Mountaineers Stun LSU
November 27, 2004 04:06 PM | General
November 27, 2004
BATON ROUGE, La. – Tyrone Sally scored 22 points to lead West Virginia to an 84-69 win at LSU Saturday afternoon. Sally made eight of 14 field goal attempts including two of five from behind the three-point line for his game-high 22. Five Mountaineer players reached double figures.
“He really played a great game and you can’t read from his emotions what’s going on,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “If you went in and looked at him right now you’d think he had zero points and zero rebounds … he’d show you that face. But I love to see him have games like he had today.”
Patrick Beilein hit six threes for 18 points and Kevin Pittsnogle contributed 13 points on six of eight shooting off the bench to help West Virginia improve to 3-0.
“We haven’t gone this deep before,” said Beilein. “We didn’t have enough depth the first year and last year we’re trying to sort out our chemistry. We have kids willing to go in and come out and give us everything they have.”
Beilein used a total of 10 players and all of them contributed in some way.
“Foul trouble is sometimes good for us because it gets more people experience,” Beilein said.
The Mountaineers made 33 of 55 field goal attempts for 60 percent including 11 of 24 from three-point range for 45.8 percent. That neutralized LSU’s size and athleticism.
“If you make shots against them then they can’t get into their dangerous transition game and thank goodness we made a lot of shots,” Beilein said.
Early on West Virginia used switching defenses to confuse LSU and build a 12-point edge midway through the first half. After a Sally three tied the score at 17, West Virginia used a 19-7 run to take a 36-24 advantage.
“We had to make them probe a little bit and not play at a different tempo,” Beilein said. “We wanted to keep them under 70 points because they’re so explosive.”
Pittsnogle got things going when Glen Davis tried to save the basketball right underneath West Virginia’s basket, giving Pittsnogle an easy lay-in. Beilein’s three-pointer gave the Mountaineers a 22-18 edge, and a transition basket by Pittsogle made it 24-18.
A three-point play by Brandon Bass and a wide-open three by Xavier Whipple cut LSU’s deficit to two, 26-24, but WVU answered with 10 straight points. Pittsnogle followed a J.D. Collins miss and Mike Ganey hit a high arching three to make it 31-24. A backdoor dunk by Gansey and another three by Beilein gave the Mountaineers a 36-24 lead.
LSU got West Virginia’s lead to single digits with a Bass layup and a Minor three-point play.
Mitchell was fouled by Herber trying a three and made three straight free throws, and a minute later made an athletic three with the shot clock winding down. Mitchell accepted a pass on the wing and hoisted up a fall-away three-point shot without coming to the ground to cut West Virginia’s lead to six, 44-38.
Another Gansey bucket inside was matched by a pair of Mitchell free throws to close out the first half.
LSU made a quick run at the start of the second half to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to three and force John Beilein to call a timeout.
West Virginia responded with a Fischer tip-in and a three-pointer by Patrick Beilein pushed West Virginia’s lead back to seven. A pair of Sally free throws, a Sally basket inside and a Sally three got West Virginia’s advantage back to 11, 58-47.
The Mountaineers led by 13 after a long straightaway three by Beilein before LSU went on an 11-2 run to cut West Virginia’s lead to four, 66-62.
After a WVU timeout, J.D. Collins took over the game with two pretty passes that led to a short basket by Pittsnogle and a three by Beilein. A fade-away three by Beilein gave WVU a 74-62 advantage and Collins punctuated the run with a pretty reverse layup to make it 76-62.
Gansey scored 12 points and Herber contributed 10 as the Mountaineers snapped LSU’s 56-game home win streak against non-conference opponents.
Tack Minor came off the bench to lead LSU with 17 points. Bass contributed 14 and Mitchell finished with 14. LSU held a 36-25 advantage in rebounding but the Mountaineers held their own with a 19-19 margin in defensive rebounds.
“How can you out-rebound the big ‘fella (Davis) … you just can’t,” said Beilein. “Sometimes they had to have three attempts to get it in and that’s where they got a lot of those. But we dug out just enough.”
LSU drops to 3-1.
“I think we’re the type of team that can go on the road and beat a team like this obviously but we also can lose to anybody in the country as well,” said Beilein. “So we have to stay with our commitment to play hard and play smart everyday.”
West Virginia returns to action next Saturday when the Mountaineers play host to Radford at the WVU Coliseum for a 7 pm non-conference game.
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