2nd Half Lifts Gators
December 20, 2003 11:20 PM | General
December 20, 2003
MIAMI – Matt Walsh scored 14 of his team-high 17 points as the Florida defense turned it up a notch in the second half to defeat West Virginia 70-57 in the second game of the Orange Bowl Classic at AmericanAirlines Arena Saturday.
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| Freshman Frank Young drives baseline for West Virginia during Saturday night's game against Florida. (AP photo) |
“There is a reason they were almost No. 1 in the country,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “I told the team that this is a Big East road game right here. This is what it’s like trying to go to Syracuse and trying to go to Connecticut and those type of places and win.”
Trailing 35-29 at halftime, Florida came out with full-court pressure and got immediate results. The Mountaineers committed 14 of their 17 turnovers in the second half and went almost 11 minutes without making a field goal.
“They upped the pressure a little bit, they went to more trapping type of things and we had some quick turnovers and basically we lost a lot of confidence,” said Beilein. “We missed a bunch of easy, easy shots while Florida was making their run. I don’t know if we win the game but it’s a closer game if we could make some of those shots.”
After Tyler Relph’s three-point basket gave West Virginia a 42-38 lead with 15:14 remaining, Florida went on a 20-1 run to turn a four-point deficit into a 15-point lead. The No. 15-rated Gators pushed their lead to as many as 19 points before West Virginia went on an 8-2 run at the end of the game.
In the first half, West Virginia was a much different team. Despite making 13 of 31 first-half field goal attempts, West Virginia was able to get good shots against the Gator defense. WVU built its biggest lead of the half at seven points on a long jumper by D’or Fischer to make the score 30-23, and matched that margin at 32-25 on a driving layup by Drew Schifino.
“We played very well in the first half but this team is still at a point where the better they play offensively the better they play defensively,” said Beilein. “There is residual affects in everything we do.”
Florida scored four straight points to trim West Virginia’s lead to three before Schifino’s three-point play closed out the scoring in the first half.
Schifino led West Virginia with 15 points including his 1,000th career point. The Pittsburgh native now shows 1,008 career points, moving him into 39th place on the school’s all-time scoring list ahead of Leland Byrd.
Fischer and Relph finished with 12 points each for the Mountaineers, now 5-3.
“We had a plan and when we executed it in the first half it was perfect,” said Beilein. “And then for some reason guys got into odd spots in the second half. All of the sudden when we had backdoor looks going there was a guy standing there for some reason. We just lost our composure for a minute and started running around with little direction.”
Florida, which improves to 6-2, got 15 points each from David lee and Christian Drejer. Florida made 16 of 17 free throw attempts; West Virginia was just 9 of 16 from the foul line.
“We lost to a very good and for 25 or 30 minutes were as good at the No. 15 team in the country,” said Beilein. “I don’t think that anyone back in West Virginia thinks we’re a Top 15 team but we did show some signs of doing good things tonight.”
Last year, West Virginia upset Florida 68-66 in Charleston.
West Virginia has eight days before playing its next game against IPFW at the WVU Coliseum on Sunday, Dec. 28. The Mountaineers battle Howard on Dec. 30 before opening Big East play on the road at Notre Dame on Wednesday, Jan. 7.
“Obviously if we can win these next two games and go into Big East play 7-3 that would be tremendous for the schedule we’ve played,” said Beilein. “As young as we are and the way we’re throwing in these freshmen I’d take that.”
