Mountaineers Cruise
December 21, 2004 10:12 PM | General
December 21, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s becoming a broken record for the West Virginia University basketball team: jump out to a big lead early and cruise to a 30-point win.
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| Forward Mike Gansey scored 16 points and pulled down 14 rebounds in West Virginia's 82-48 win over New Hampshire.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Mountaineers scored the game’s first 14 points and built a 21-point lead at the seven-minute mark on the way to a 82-48 victory over New Hampshire Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
WVU coach John Beilein credits versatility as one of the primary reasons his team is off to such a successful start.
“We have multi-dimensional players and everybody can shoot,” said Beilein. “Usually we can look at a scouting report and say these two guys can’t shoot so stay off them. That’s tough to do with us right now.”
West Virginia (8-0) has now won four of its last five games by 24 points or more and has a five-game streak of holding opponents to 55 points or less. That is the best five-game defensive stretch in 55 years.
“I thought New Hampshire in the first half got some pretty good looks and they just couldn’t make a shot,” said Beilein. “While I thought our defense was good at times they had some good answers and they couldn’t make a shot from the perimeter.”
“Truth be told we got good shots,” added New Hampshire coach Phil Rowe. “We had worked against the 1-3-1 and we put in a couple wrinkles for us and we got the ball where we wanted it and we just didn’t knock them down. I think it was more environmental than anything else.”
New Hampshire (4-5) managed to make just four of 22 first-half field goal attempts as the Mountaineers built a 41-15 halftime lead. In the second half, Beilein was able to rest most of his regulars and allow backups Darris Nichols, Frank Young and Luke Bonner to get quality minutes.
Nichols responded with 10 points while Young contributed a career-high eight on three of five shooting. The sophomore forward came into the game shooting just 20 percent (four of 20) from the floor.
“We needed him to make those shots today,” said Beilein. “We haven’t been in serious foul trouble and we’ve lived a pretty blessed life right now so there are going to be times when he needed to make a couple of shots and now in the GW game when we need them it’s not like, ‘Oh I haven’t made a three yet this year.’”
Mike Gansey produced his second double-double of the season with 16 points and 14 rebounds, while Kevin Pittsnogle came off the bench to score 10 points in 16 minutes of work. A total of 10 Mountaineer players got into the scoring column Tuesday night.
Overall, West Virginia made 31 of 69 shots for 44.9 percent including 14 of 38 from three-point range for 36.8 percent. The Mountaineers also produced their widest rebounding margin under Beilein at WVU with a plus-14 (42 to 28).
In addition to Gansey’s 14 rebounds, including eight offensive, center D’or Fischer grabbed nine boards.
New Hampshire made 13 of 26 second-half field goal attempts to finish the game shooting 35.4 percent. The Wildcats were led by Blagoj Janev’s 12 points. He was the only New Hampshire player to reach double figures.
Beilein is pleased with his team’s 8-0 start but he isn’t sure how good his team is yet.
“I search scores like crazy but I really don’t know,” said Beilein. “This is totally unexpected to have the 30 and 40-point wins. I hope it’s a good sign but I also know that a win is a win and a loss is a loss and we have to treat it that way no matter what the point spread is.”
But Beilein will get some of his questions answered after Christmas with a pair of games against nationally ranked opponents. West Virginia will take on No. 22-rated George Washington on Wednesday, Dec. 29, in a marquee non-conference match-up at the WVU Coliseum. After the George Washington game, WVU travels to No. 13 N.C. State for a non-conference contest in Raleigh on Sunday, Jan. 2.
“We’ll get a little idea where we are but it won’t be an end result good or bad,” said Beilein.
New Hampshire’s Rowe believes West Virginia has a pretty good formula working right now.
“They’re talented and they do something different that’s hard to prepare for,” he said. “You don’t have enough time to get it done and the other teams are going to have the same problems we had.”
Rowe’s team has already faced undefeated Boston College, losing 84-62 at BC and he believes the two teams are very comparable talent wise.
“BC is not quite as organized as a unit; they’re very talented and it usually takes them a little longer to get organized and that’s why they use us in their non-league,” Rowe said. “This group comes out of the gate and they're organized from the get-go. By the end of the year my guess is it would be a heck of a game between these two teams.”
