Orangemen Too Much
February 26, 2003 11:52 PM | General
February 26, 2003
SYRACUSE, N.Y. – When he took the West Virginia job last April, John Beilein knew there were going to be nights like this.
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| West Virginia's Nick Patella tries to stay with Syracuse guard Billy Ednelin during Wednesday night's game at the Carrier Dome. (AP photo) |
Still, that doesn’t make it any easier for a man that has more than 450 collegiate wins to watch. No. 15 Syracuse jumped out to an 18-point halftime lead and ran away with an 89-51 victory over the Mountaineers Wednesday night at the Carrier Dome.
At one point in the second half, Syracuse led by as many as 42 points.
“We’re obviously not at the top of our game and I don’t have any excuses for that,” said Beilein. “They are a team that is in a whole different dimension than us right now. We don’t have any answers and I can coach forever and do whatever but that team hit on everything they needed to hit on tonight.”
For a short time in the first half, West Virginia trailed the Orangemen by just four at 16-12 after a Kevin Pittsnogle layup.
“In the first half we did some good things and made it difficult for them. We just couldn’t make any shots,” said Beilein. “Our forwards go 1 for 11 and we had six field goals total. That’s the way it goes sometimes. We’ve had 25 games so far and we’ve had a few of these and we usually bounce back afterward, so we’ll do our best.”
West Virginia lost by 30 points at St. Louis on Jan. 4 and recovered in its very next game to defeat Miami in its Big East opener.
After a 19-point loss at Notre Dame, West Virginia was able to bounce back and upset Villanova on the road.
The Mountaineers turned around after a 36-point loss at Pitt to defeat Rutgers on the road, 52-46. West Virginia will look to turn the trick one more time this Saturday at Seton Hall.
On Wednesday night, West Virginia had a difficult time finding the mark against a very athletic Syracuse team. The Mountaineers made just 17 of 63 field goals for 27 percent. Combine the poor shooting with 15 turnovers and you’re looking at a 38-point loss.
Carmelo Anthony scored 24 points and grabbed 10 rebounds to lead Syracuse. Kueth Duany and Hakim Warrick added 18 points each, and Billy Edelin came off the bench to score 10 to help the Orangemen, now 20-4, 10-3, improve to 16-0 at home this season.
“I’ve been a Division I coach for 11 years now and I would say as far as talent level, coaching ability and everything – they’re right there with the top five that I’ve ever played,” said Beilein. “If they can get hot in March they could go all the way to New Orleans. The ball might not bounce their way and they may get knocked out, but they’re an awful good basketball team right now.”
Syracuse shot 56.1 percent from the field including 73.3 percent in the second half. The Orangemen made 18 of 23 second-half field goal attempts – most coming on alley oop dunks and easy layups.
“They’re just quicker to the ball, they anticipate, and they’ve just had a great run here in recruiting,” said Beilein. “I told our seniors after perhaps we win at the Dome or we sweep Syracuse in the future, that you were a part of that. It’s an ugly part of it, but you have to go through this to recognize where we are.
“In the spring when we go to work, we’ll talk more about the Pitt and the Syracuse games than we’ll talk about the win over Florida,” he continued, “because they need to know that we’ve got a long way to go and we’ve just got to keep working.”
Drew Schifino was the only Mountaineer player to reach double figures with 10 points, extending his double figure scoring streak to 34 games. Schifino also moved past Calvin Bowman (509 in 2001) for 28th place in the WVU single season scoring list with 510 points. Schfino can crack the Top 25 with 9 points Saturday at Seton Hall.
The loss drops West Virginia’s overall record to 13-12. The Mountaineers fall to 4-9 in Big East play.
West Virginia's 38-point loss was its largest since losing by 46 at No. 4 Louisville on Dec. 16, 1978.
“We’ll bounce back,” said Beilein. “We’ll look a little at this tape and then we’ve got to move on to Seton Hall and get our kids’ heads back up. I love them just as much now as I did before the game.”
Saturday’s game at Seton Hall is scheduled to get underway at noon and will not be televised. MSN’s pre-game radio coverage begins at 11:30 a.m.
