Big East Notebook
December 31, 2002 11:51 AM | General
December 31, 2002
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Last year, West Virginia was breaking in a freshman class considered one of the best in school history.
 |
||
| Standing tall with the rest of the Mountaineer freshmen is center Kevin Pittsnogle. (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks) |
Among WVU’s three highly rated freshmen was one named MVP of a national AAU tournament, another considered one of the best 75 players in the country, and yet another who ranked among the nation’s top 200 players.
It was supposed to have been the rebirth of Mountaineer basketball. Instead they helped end a great coaching era.
This season West Virginia is once again relying on a large number of freshmen. However, this group didn’t come in with the same fanfare as last year’s.
One played in the West Virginia North-South all-star game and another was his high school’s team MVP and didn’t even average double figures. A third traveled across the ocean for a chance to play college basketball in America, while a fourth came to WVU as an invited walk-on to play for his father.
No, you won’t find five stars next to the names of Kevin Pittsnogle, Jarmon Durisseau-Collins, Joe Herber and Patrick Beilein in the recruiting reports, but what you will find is a group of players determined to play hard and win basketball games.
Never was that more evident than last Sunday when the Mountaineers were trailing Gardner-Webb 50-45 with nine minutes left in the game.
Pittsnogle got things going with a three-point basket to cut Gardner-Webb’s lead to two and then Herber added another three to give West Virginia the lead at 51-50.
Three minutes later West Virginia was comfortably leading 64-50. All 19 points in a 19-0 run came from either Pittsnogle, Herber or Beilein.
It was the type of game West Virginia would have fumbled away last year.
Pittsnogle is averaging a surprising 11.7 points per game and leads the team with 18 three-point field goals. His 62.9 percent field goal percentage would rank among Big East Conference leaders if he had enough shot attempts.
Herber scored a season-high 16 points in West Virginia’s come-from-behind win over Gardner-Webb last Sunday, and boosted his season scoring average to 8.5 points per game. Herber has handed out a team-best 40 assists and is averaging 3.9 rebounds per game.
Beilein is averaging 4.8 points per game off the bench and has made 12-of-30 three-point field goal attempts for a solid 40 percent shooting percentage. Beilein has also handed out 16 assists to just nine turnovers.
And quarterbacking the team is 5-foot-10 Jarmon Durisseau-Collins, who has committed just seven turnovers in 10 games this season. Durisseeau-Collins’ 29-to-7 assist-to-turnover ratio ranks him among the best in the conference.
This group has already helped West Virginia match its win total of last year and the prospects of making the Big East tournament this year have dramatically improved.
News and notes:
* The Big East has two of the remaining five undefeated teams left in Pittsburgh and Connecticut.
The No. 2-ranked Panthers put their unblemished record on the line today at Georgia against the 7-3 Bulldogs. The Panthers have won nine straight games to open a season for the first time since the 1988-89 campaign. They are trying to win 10 in a row to start a season for the fourth time ever and the first since 1930. Pitt has won five straight road games dating back to last season but will be making its first visit to Stegeman Coliseum.
If Pitt can get by Georgia tonight, there is a good possibility the Panthers could crack No. 1 in at least one poll. With Alabama losing Monday to Utah, Pitt could crack No. 1 in the AP poll for the first time in school history.
The Panthers have to leap frog undefeated Duke to reach No. 1 in the ESPN/USA Today coaches poll.
Meanwhile, Connecticut is 8-0 ranked No. 5 in the ESPN/USA Today poll and faces 5-5 St. Bonaventure on Thursday, Jan. 2.
Notre Dame, now 10-1 with a win over Vanderbilt, slipped up to No. 6 both the coaches and media polls while Syracuse is making its move with an 8-1 mark. The Orangemen received 22 votes this week in the ESPN/USA Today Top 25 and 45 votes in the AP poll.
* The Big East season gets an early start on Thursday when Boston College hosts Providence. The Friars improved their record to 6-3 with a nice overtime win over Penn yesterday. Tuukka Kotti blocked a shot in the closing minute and scored an off-balance basket with 7.7 seconds to play in overtime to lead Providence to a 74-71 victory.
Boston College also comes into the game with a 6-3 record and owns a nice non-league win at Iowa State.
* Rutgers ran its record to 8-3 with a 66-57 victory over Prairie View Monday night. Herve Lamizana scored a career-high 22 points and grabbed 11 rebounds to lead the Knights to their fifth win in six games. Rutgers should make their record 9-3 after hosting 5-4 LaSalle Saturday.
* Connecticut guard Ben Gordon was named Big East player of the week and Syracuse freshman forward Carmelo Anthony was honored as the conference’s rookie of the week.
Gordon scored 24 points in UConn’s 93-65 win over Central Connecticut State. Anthony gets the honor for the third time this season by tying his season-high of 28 points in a 109-79 win over Albany.
* Anthony continues to lead the Big East in scoring with an average of 24.9 points per game. BC’s Troy Bell (23.2 ppg.), UConn’s Ben Gordon (21.8 ppg.), St. John’s guard Marcus Hatten (21.2 ppg.) and BC’s Craig Smith (20.0 ppg.) are also averaging better than 20 points per game in games through Dec. 30.
* Here is the list of Big East Naismith Award candidates: Troy Bell (Boston College), Brandin Knight (Pitt), Darius Rice (Miami), Mike Sweetney (Georgetown) and Chris Thomas (Notre Dame).
* Remaining Big East games this week:
Tuesday, Dec. 31
Pitt at Georgia
VMI at Georgetown
Stony Brook at Seton Hall
Temple at Villanova
Thursday, Jan. 2
St. Bonaventure at Connecticut
Providence at Boston College
Niagara at St. John’s
Saturday, Jan. 4
Seton Hall at St. John’s
Valparaiso at Notre Dame
West Virginia at St. Louis
Robert Morris at Pitt
Florida State at Virginia Tech
North Carolina at Miami
Providence at Siena
LaSalle at Rutgers
Sunday, Jan. 5
Northeastern at Boston College
Villanova at Memphis
