Big East Notebook
February 03, 2003 11:00 AM | General
February 3, 2003
PHILADELPHIA – It seems like every time Drew Schifino plays someone new he winds up leaving them impressed.
Schifino’s latest eye opening performance against Villanova last Saturday left Wildcats coach Jay Wright searching for the right words to describe his game, “He is great. He just has answers.”
Schifino made 11 of 17 field goal attempts and canned 8 of 10 from the free throw line to score a game-high 31 points. It is the third time this season the Pittsburgh resident has reached the 30-point mark – the first time that has happened at WVU since guard Greg Jones did it seven times in 1983.
Schifino is also looking to become the first player since Jones to produce back-to-back 30-point games. Jones scored 31 points in back-to-back games against Youngstown State and Marshall on Dec. 1 and Dec. 4, 1982.
“He just makes shots with people in his face,” said Wright. “We had small guards on him and we had forwards on him. I have a lot of respect for him. He’s a hell of a player.”
Schifino’s current scoring average of 21.1 points per game moves him up to fifth in Big East scoring behind Troy Bell, Marcus Hatten, Mike Sweetney and Craig Smith.
Schifino is not a scorer in the classic sense. He isn’t a great three-point shooter (26.5 percent) although he’s much better than he was last year and he prefers the left side of the court. Teams often try to push Schifino to his right or lay off him and let him shoot open shots instead of driving to the basket.
However, like former All-America guard Wil Robinson who couldn’t go to his left, Schifino has a knack for scoring regardless of who is on him.
“Drew, in some mystical way, just gets to the rim,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
Schifino is already 11th on the school list with three 30-point games and although he has a ways to go to catch Jerry West’s total of 28, the sophomore has plenty of time to make a run at it.
Schifino needs one more 30-point game to move into 10th matching center Warren Baker (1973-76) and guard Eddie Becker (1952-54) with four.
The sophomore is also looking to become the school’s first 20-point scorer since Greg Jones averaged 22.3 points per game in 1983.
With 23 points Saturday against Syracuse, Schifino will reach 700 for his career.
Notebook:
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| Jarmon Durisseau-Collins leads West Virginia with 33 steals. (AP photo) |
But when you scan all the way across the stat sheet, you also realize that he leads the team in steals with 33, has handed out 52 assists while committing just 23 turnovers, and has also grabbed 2.7 rebounds per game despite standing just 5-foot-9.
Against Villanova on Saturday, Collins had perhaps his best game as a Mountaineer. WVU’s quarterback scored 9 points, handed out 5 assists, grabbed 3 rebounds, and made 5 of 7 key free throws. It was his pair of foul shots with a little more than a minute left that helped preserve West Virginia’s lead.
Collins isn’t quite the same free throw shooter, but he shares a lot of the same qualities that former Providence defensive player of the year John Linehan possessed. Besides the obvious height similarity, both Collins and Linehan are confident with the basketball, understand the game, and are tough, in-your-face defenders.
Durisseau-Collins’ freshman stats are also comparable to Linehan’s: in 1997-98 Linehan averaged 5.6 points, 2.1 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 1.7 steals and shot 33.8 percent from the field.
Durisseau-Collins’ numbers through 19 games: 2.8 points, 2.7 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 1.7 steals and is shooting 33.3 percent from the field.
Troutman is making 76.9 percent of his field goal attempts this year while Briggs is converting baskets at an 82.3-percent clip.
However, neither player is close to qualifying for the league lead because it is based on 5 made field goals per game, essentially eliminating anyone that averages less than double figures.
That’s why BC’s Craig Smith is listed as the Big East’s top field goal shooter at 62.7 percent.
Troutman has made 83 of 108 field goal attempts so far this year, while Briggs has canned 51 of 62 field goal attempts.
Think about that: Troutman has missed 25 shots all season and Briggs has missed just 11. They may not show up on the league stat sheets, but that is still some dead-eye marksmanship by two pretty good inside players.
The Dukes dropped to 7-14 with a loss to George Washington on Saturday, St. Louis is 8-10 overall and 2-5 in Conference USA play, and UNLV is 12-6, but just 1-4 in the Mountain West.
West Virginia’s top four field goal teams:
1988-89 -- 51.42%
1981-82 – 49.18%
1990-91 – 49.00%
1984-85 – 48.56%
All-American Rod Thorn produced 28 points, 13 rebounds and 11 assists in a game against St. Bonaventure on Feb. 28, 1962, and Levi Phillips had 21 points, 13 assists and 10 rebounds in a game against Virginia Tech on Feb. 16, 1974.
My guess is when he completes his work those two will be the only triple-double performances in school history.
Seton Hall evened its league record to 4-4 after beating Rutgers at home and has conference home games coming up against Notre Dame, Pitt and Villanova before traveling to West Virginia.
Georgetown has three straight Big East road games at Syracuse, Rutgers and Virginia Tech, while Rutgers has home games on the horizon against Boston College, Georgetown and West Virginia.
East No. 3 St. John’s has a 3-3 mark in conference play and hasn’t distinguished itself, while Boston College is playing better of late but has puzzling losses to Holy Cross, Kent State and Northeastern on its docket.
Meanwhile, the top three teams in the West (Pitt, Notre Dame and Syracuse) have a combined 47-8 record. Now that’s balance for you.
