WVU Men Prevail
December 21, 2002 05:16 PM | General
December 21, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Maybe West Virginia should play all of its games against teams from the SEC. For the second time this year, the Mountaineers have won a big non-conference game against a school from the Southeastern Conference.
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| West Virginia guard Joe Herber drives to the basket during the first half of the Mountaineers' game against Tennessee. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
First it was No. 7-ranked Florida in Charleston on Tuesday, Dec. 3, and now WVU has done it once again against Tennessee Saturday afternoon in Morgantown. Kevin Pittsnogle scored the Mountaineers' last five points and West Virginia overcame a 16-point halftime deficit to defeat Tennessee, 65-62.
WVU outscored the Vols (4-2) 15-4 over the remaining 7:43 to improve to 7-1 on the season.
“This is a great win for us and the way we did it was amazing,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
Pittsnogle, a 6-foot-10 freshman, and 6-3 sophomore Drew Schifino keyed West Virginia’s comeback. Trailing 58-50, Schifino converted one of two free throws and added a layup to cut the deficit to five, 58-53.
“I knew I had to step up for us to get a win,” said Schifino.
Pittsnogle nailed a three with 5:46 to go to trim UT’s lead to two, and added a miraculous bank-shot-three with 2:53 left to give West Virginia its first lead of the second half at 63-60.
“I kind of forgot about the clock when I got the ball, but I heard the crowd and I just threw it up and it went in,” Pittsnogle said. “I had a feeling that it might go in and then when it did, I was like ‘yeah it went in.’”
“The one that Pittsnogle hit off the inbounds really took the air out of us tonight,” said Tennessee coach Buzz Peterson.
Pittsnogle says Tennessee stayed off him and gave him room to shoot.
“They left me with like three or four feet in between shots and I know I can make them so I just shot it,” said Pittsnogle.
Tennessee’s only basket in the game’s remaining 7:43 came on a layup by Derek Stribling. UT’s other two points were on a pair of free throws by Slay.
“In the second half, we mixed it up defensively, didn’t send them to the free throw line and they missed a few easy shots,” said Beilein.
Tennessee made just eight field goals and shot 30.8 percent in the second half. The Vols were impaired when 6-8 forward Ron Slay picked up his fourth foul midway through the second half and he finished the game with just 10 points – 12 off his season’s average.
“Slay and Crump are great players and I think we proved that we can hang with big guys tonight,” said Schifino.
The Vols were a completely different team in the first half. Trailing by six at 21-15, Tennessee went on an 18-4 run to take a 33-24 lead after a pair of free throws by John Winchester.
A couple of layups by Stanley Asumnu and Elgrace Wilborn got UT's run going, and after a Drew Schifino three-pointer, Tennessee scored the next 12 points -- all on either layups or dunks. Slay and Crump tallied four points each during the run.
Wilborn’s layup with 32 seconds left gave Tennessee its biggest lead of half at 16, but Joe Herber answered with a three right before the buzzer to trim West Virginia’s deficit to 13, 43-30 at the break.
“During halftime, I told them that they got what they deserved in the first half,” said Beilein. “We really learned from our mistakes and we kept our heads together and executed.”
“Every game we come out weak in the first half for some reason,” said Pittsnogle. “We knew we had to come out strong (in the second half) and we played with a lot of heart and intensity and came up with a big win.”
Schifino led West Virginia with a game-high 28 points. The 6-3 Pittsburgh native made 12-of-19 shots -- mostly from 15 feet and in. “We got caught too many times with one of our big guys guarding Schifino and we just couldn’t stop him. He got anything he wanted,” said Peterson.
Pittsnogle contributed 15 points and four rebounds and Herber added 11.
Crump scored 14 for Tennessee and Slay added 10.
West Virginia has won the last two games against Tennessee in the four-game series that ends after this season.
“This is a great statement game,” said Pittsnogle. “For us to beat a big, physical team like that -- it’s a great statement and a great win for us tonight.”
“It’s good for West Virginia University and good for the Big East Conference that we’ve beat two SEC teams this year,” added Schifino.
West Virginia is off for Christmas and will return to action on Saturday, Dec. 28 at UNLV in the opening game of the Jim Thorpe Classic. WVU completes the two-game trip on Sunday, Dec. 29 against Gardner-Webb.
