Plenty of Work to Do
November 12, 2002 10:09 AM | General
November 12, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With two exhibition games now under its belt, the West Virginia University men’s basketball team can take the next 11 days to put what it has learned to good use when the Mountaineers open the regular season Friday, Nov. 22, against Delaware State.
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| Mountaineer coach John Beilein will use the next 11 days to get ready for the season opener against Delaware State. |
“I welcome these next 11 days to retool a little bit to change some of the things we do,” said Mountaineer coach John Beilein.
On Monday, West Virginia lost a 104-101 overtime game to Team Nike, which boasted several standout college players. Former Illinois-Chicago guard Kenny Williams scored 33 points including eight-of-nine from three-point distance, and former Notre Dame guard Keith Friel hit a three-pointer with two seconds left to lift Team Nike in overtime.
“They were a great shooting team,” admitted Beilein. “I hope we won’t see 18 threes too often. It’s not even like they were lucky threes. They were right down middle. It was a good experience for us.”
Six West Virginia players reached double figures led by guard Drew Schifino’s 22 points. Forward Josh Yeager contributed 14 while Chaz Briggs and Tyrone Sally added 13 points each.
Beilein believes his team’s most recent exhibition will better serve them when the regular season begins.
“It was a great class room experience for our team,” said Beilein. “Even for the coach it was a class room experience because I have got to learn that I can’t get so frustrated so early in games. We’ll spend a whole week showing them the tape and we’ll learn from this.”
Even though WVU lost, Beilein was pleased with his team’s effort and focus. “We got some confidence during the second half in crunch time and I thought we executed out of our huddles great,” said Beilein. “That’s key because they are listening in the huddle and letting us coach them a little bit.”
In West Virginia’s first preseason game on Nov. 4, the Mountaineers had little trouble with Latvia Select, winning 94-58. Schifino canned 11-of-13 shots including five-of-five from three-point distance to lead WVU with 28 points. Briggs scored 16 on seven-of-seven from the floor while Yeager pumped in 13 off the bench.
“After a win against an inferior team you can get a false sense of security,” said Beilein. “I saw it Saturday (during a team scrimmage) and our most recent result shows us that we make a lot of mistakes, but hey we put 100 points on the board. In a normal situation that might be 80. If we can score 60, 70 or 80 a game we could win some games this year.”
In the first exhibition game, Beilein used a starting lineup consisting of Briggs, freshman Joe Herber and Sally at forward, with Schifino and freshman Jarmon Durriseau-Collins at guards.
Most recently, Beilein used nearly the same lineup with Yeager replacing Sally at forward.
Unlike the first game when West Virginia was out-rebounded 34-28, the Mountaineers actually improved that statistic with a 45-41 margin against Team Nike.
However, West Virginia had a tough time handling the basketball against Team Nike, giving up 17 turnovers. West Virginia had just nine in the preseason opener.
“I hate the 17 turnovers because a couple of them were a bit unforced,” admitted the coach.
Schifino, a 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard from Pittsburgh, is evolving into West Virginia’s primary scoring threat. In two preseason games, the sophomore averaged 25 points while shooting 64.5 percent from the field. Briggs averaged 14.5 points and 4.0 rebounds in the two preseason games, while Sally was the team’s top rebounder with 14.
West Virginia attempted 51 three-point shots in the two games, connecting on 24 for a solid 47.1 percentage.
“It’s not how good we are right now, it’s how good we will be when the Big East season gets here,” said Beilein.
The Mountaineers open the 2002-03 campaign against an improving Delaware State program under third-year coach Greg Jackson on Friday, Nov. 22.
Last year the Hornets produced a 16-13 overall record and finished third in the Mid-Eastern Atlantic Conference standings. Jackson has just two starters returning in 5-foot-5 guard Miles Davis and 6-foot-5 forward Andre Matthews, who averaged 14.2 points and 5.3 rebounds per game.
The opener will tip off at 7 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office at 1-800-WVU GAME.
