WVU basketball: Going against Dixon is reminder of Big East
The WVU basketball team owns a spotless record against TCU since both programs joined the Big 12 Conference.
West Virginia owns an 11-0 record against the Horned Frogs, dating back to 2013. That will go to the test tonight down in Texas. The Mountaineers are seeing a familiar face, though. A face that has tormented the WVU basketball team over the years.
TCU is led by Jamie Dixon, the former head coach at Pitt. He took over the Horned Frogs following the 2016 season. He has faced the Mountaineers twice while wearing purple, losing both games by a combined 13 points.
When Dixon was at Pitt he helped build the Panthers into a team that perennially competed for Big East titles. Already rivals because of the geographic location, the Backyard Brawl just became intensified because of the great programs the Panthers became under Dixon and the Mountaineers became under Bob Huggins.
Dixon went 12-7 against the WVU basketball team during his tenure at Pitt. He had two streaks that consisted of four wins in a row. His departure from Pitt has left the Panthers in shambles as they have not even won an Atlantic Coast Conference game this season. At TCU, on the other hand, Dixon is leading what appears to be the greatest turnaround in program history.
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This season, the Horned Frogs are 14-5. Last year, Dixon went 24-15 with the Horned Frogs as they won the NIT Championship. This is a good team now, even though TCU has lost four of its last five games. They’ll be hungry and ready to knock off a top 10 WVU basketball team.
With Dixon in charge, they’ll be ready to beat the Mountaineers because Dixon has done that for a majority of his career. He is used to Huggins and knows how to match up with him. However, he tried to skirt the Mountaineers when he was still with the Panthers.
It’s been reported that Jamie Dixon is the reason the Backyard Brawl ceased to exist there for a few years when WVU went to the Big 12 and Pitt went to the ACC. Dixon has come out saying he respects West Virginia and its fans because of the way the Mountaineer Nation treated his family following the death of his sister a few years ago.
Next: All-time WVU basketball team
Jamie Dixon has bigger issues to worry about than singling out his whole career for one opponent. But it’s a good thing that West Virginia has gotten too far removed from a single figure who has been an excellent rival for almost two decades.