A New Era Begins
November 22, 2002 09:36 PM | General
November 22, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The John Beilein era of Mountaineer basketball got off to a successful start Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Mountaineer coach John Beilein (far right) watches first half action on the bench with his coaching staff. |
West Virginia, unveiling a scrappy new defense and a deliberate motion offense, held Delaware State to just 46 points in a 59-46 season-opening victory. It was the lowest scoring output by a Mountaineer opponent since Nov. 25, 1995, when West Virginia held Florida A&M to 39 points in an 80-39 victory.
“Our defense looked very good out there tonight,” said Beilein. “In my book a ‘W’ is a ‘W’ and we’re so pleased to get the first game behind us because we didn’t know what to expect.”
“We came out with a focus on defense,” added West Virginia sophomore forward Tyrone Sally, who came off the bench to score eight points and grab five rebounds. “Coach told us if we play hard defensively our offense will come. We struggled a little bit from the outside in the beginning, but then we picked up our defense and we started getting baskets in transition.”
West Virginia needed an 8-0 spurt at the start of the second half to turn a one-point lead into a more comfortable 33-23 advantage with 17:27 left in the game.
Josh Yeager and Drew Schifino keyed the run with a pair of baskets each. Yeager finished the night with a team-high 15 points, while Schifino added 14.
At the game’s outset, West Virginia trailed 10-3 after a Miles Davis three-pointer with 13:41 left, but a pair of Schifino baskets and a layup by Chaz Briggs closed the gap to 10-9.
A Patrick Beilein three-point basket with 8:53 left tied the game at 14, and West Virginia took its first lead on a Briggs layup with 8:19 left in the half.
A Jarmon Durriseau-Collins three-point basket lifted West Virginia to its biggest lead of the half at 19-14, but Delaware State kept it close the rest of the way.
West Virginia was clobbered on the boards in the first half being out-rebounded 22-11.
“Delaware State is a physical team and they were out-hustling for the ball,” said Sally. “Coach Beilein came into the locker room and told us that we needed to go to the boards more and everybody just went to the boards.”
After a cool start, West Virginia shot a respectable 44 percent and committed only nine turnovers for the game.
“Our kids ran out of gas and I think that was because of the way West Virginia played,” said Delaware State coach Greg Jackson. “John Beilein has a great motion offense going. They open the floor well and move fast. He is going to do great things with this program.”
Freshmen Durriseau-Collins, Beilein, Kevin Pittsnogle and Joe Herber each made successful debuts.
“I came out and hit my first shot and then I got a little antsy,” said Durriseau-Collins. “I settled down, got some good passes and we won the game. I kept the little guard (Davis) out of the lane and that’s what I wanted to do the whole game.”
“I played average tonight,” said Herber, who finished with three rebounds and five assists. “I didn’t score at all but that’s all right as long as we win.”
Six-five forward Andre Matthews led Delaware State, 0-1, with 16 points. His brother Aaron, a Villanova transfer, contributed 12 points and a game-high 11 rebounds.
“They’re a good team,” said Beilein. “They’ve got a great one-two punch (Andre Matthews and Davis) and I expect them to get 16, 17, 18 wins this year. That was a veteran team and they play unselfishly.”
“Coach just wanted us to give a great effort tonight and the rest would come,” said Durriseau-Collins.
West Virginia, 1-0, returns to action on Monday, Nov. 25, at Duquesne. The game will tip off at 7:30 p.m.
Official Basketball Box Score
Delaware State vs West Virginia
11/22/02 7:00 at Morgantown, W.Va.
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VISITORS: Delaware State 0-1
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
23 Matthews, Andre..... f 8-11 0-2 0-0 3 4 7 3 16 2 1 0 0 34
4 Nathaniel, Isaiah... f 0-1 0-0 0-0 0 2 2 1 0 1 2 1 0 7
55 Matthews, Aaron..... f 5-13 1-1 1-1 4 7 11 4 12 5 1 0 0 36
12 Davis, Miles........ g 1-5 1-3 0-0 1 2 3 1 3 2 5 0 0 31
31 Stephanenkov, Sergey g 3-10 1-6 0-0 2 3 5 2 7 1 0 0 1 40
00 Bowen, James........ 3-10 2-7 0-0 2 4 6 3 8 1 2 0 1 33
20 Parker, Prince...... 0-3 0-0 0-2 1 0 1 0 0 2 2 0 1 13
5 Hunter, Terrance.... 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 1 1 3 0 0 0 0 0 6
TEAM................ 2 2 1
Totals.............. 20-53 5-19 1-3 15 23 38 17 46 14 14 1 3 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 10-28 35.7% 2nd Half: 10-25 40.0% Game: 37.7% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-9 33.3% 2nd Half: 2-10 20.0% Game: 26.3% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 0-0 0.0% 2nd Half: 1-3 33.3% Game: 33.3% 1
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HOME TEAM: West Virginia 1-0
TOT-FG 3-PT REBOUNDS
## Player Name FG-FGA FG-FGA FT-FTA OF DE TOT PF TP A TO BLK S MIN
15 Schifino, Drew...... f 5-15 1-4 3-3 0 4 4 1 14 2 2 0 0 27
22 Yeager, Josh........ f 7-10 1-3 0-1 2 2 4 0 15 0 2 0 1 32
34 Pittsnogle, Kevin... f 2-6 2-4 1-2 1 4 5 2 7 1 2 3 0 27
24 Herber, Johannes.... g 0-3 0-2 0-0 0 3 3 2 0 5 1 1 0 34
5 Durriseau-Collins, J g 2-4 1-3 0-1 1 1 2 1 5 3 0 0 2 25
2 Briggs, Chaz........ 3-3 0-0 0-0 1 2 3 0 6 0 0 0 1 13
3 Beilein, Patrick.... 1-2 1-2 1-2 2 0 2 2 4 3 0 0 1 21
4 Sally, Tyrone....... 2-7 1-2 3-6 3 2 5 0 8 2 2 0 0 21
TEAM................ 1 1
Totals.............. 22-50 7-20 8-15 10 19 29 8 59 16 9 4 5 200
TOTAL FG% 1st Half: 9-21 42.9% 2nd Half: 13-29 44.8% Game: 44.0% DEADB
3-Pt. FG% 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 4-13 30.8% Game: 35.0% REBS
F Throw % 1st Half: 3-7 42.9% 2nd Half: 5-8 62.5% Game: 53.3% 2
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Officials: Doug Shows, Olandis Poole, Michael Stuart
Technical fouls: Delaware State-None. West Virginia-None.
Attendance: 4929
Score by Periods 1st 2nd Total
Delaware State................ 23 23 - 46
West Virginia................. 24 35 - 59
