Radford Preview
December 03, 2004 03:57 PM | General
December 3, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia resumes action after an idle week on Saturday when the Mountaineers play host to Radford at the WVU Coliseum.
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| Senior forward Tyrone Sally is West Virginia's top scorer averaging 17.7 points per game.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Radford (4-1) comes into Saturday night’s game having won three straight and is 4-1 overall. The Highlanders from Radford, Va., most recently defeated North Carolina A&T 66-61 and also show victories over Ferrum, Longwood and Yale.
Radford’s only loss was an 81-76 decision at William & Mary on Nov. 20.
“I think they only have one player missing from last year’s team that seemed to be in the first year of a pretty big rebuilding process,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “When I look at their scores from last year they were a tough out for everybody. Now they are a year older and a year better.”
Six-seven sophomore forward Chris Oliver leads the Highlanders in scoring with an average of 20.2 points per game. He has reached the 20-point mark three times this year including a season-high 26-point effort in the victory against Longwood.
“He’s come out of nowhere when last year he averaged six or seven points,” Beilein said. “To average 20 points per game in Division I, I don’t care where you’re playing, is really difficult especially with the amount of people that they play. He’s a pretty impressive player on film.”
Six-one guard Whit Holcomb-Faye is averaging 15.8 points per game, while 6-foot-4 guard Olumuyiwa Popoola is averaging 12.4 points per contest. Popoola scored 23 in Radford’s win against Ferrum on Nov. 29.
Radford is also expected to start 6-foot-4 sophomore Reggie McIntyre at forward and 6-foot-8 freshman Josh Fox at center. Both have combined to average 10 points and 5.8 rebounds per game.
Highlanders coach Byron Samuels is in his third season and owns a 26-37 overall record.
The Mountaineers (3-0) are coming off an impressive 84-69 victory over LSU last Saturday that has enabled West Virginia to receiver Top 25 votes in both polls.
Senior forward Tyrone Sally scored a game-high 22 points against the Tigers, hitting eight of his 14 field-goal attempts. Patrick Beilein came off the bench to make six threes for 18 points, while backup center Kevin Pittsnogle contributed 13 points and three rebounds.
West Virginia’s victory at LSU last Saturday snapped the Tigers’ 56-game home win streak against non-conference opponents. Beilein has used this week to work on some different things with his team.
“The first couple of days we went back toward the beginning and the last couple of days we’ve been gearing more toward Radford,” he said. “I think we got some things done. We still do so much that it will be hard for me to judge how efficient we can play this time of the season.”
Sally heads into Saturday’s game against Radford leading the Mountaineers with an average of 17.7 points per game. Pittsnogle is second to Sally averaging 13.3 points per contest. Beilein (12.3 ppg.), Mike Gansey (11.0), D’or Fischer (10.3) and Joe Herber (10.0) each average better than double figures.
“I don’t think we have any easy wins no matter who we play,” Beilein said. “We have to have good nights every night. We have to shoot the ball well and we have to play smart.”
Prior to the men’s game, the Mountaineer women will take on Duquesne in a non-conference game set to begin at 5 pm.
The men resume play against St. Bonaventure in Charleston on Tuesday before embarking on a four-game home stand lasting 18 days from Dec. 11-29.
Tip off for the Radford game is set for 7 pm.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets for Saturday’s Radford game can do so by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging onto WVUGAME.com.
Briefly:
“I know pretty much everybody on the team except for the freshmen,” Nichols said.
Nichols grew up watching Radford basketball but as he got older he stopped going to the games. “They’re not big but they’re quick,” he said.
Nichols says he will have a lot of family coming up for the game Saturday, but not nearly as many as will be in the stands next year when West Virginia returns the trip to Radford. West Virginia and Radford have a two-for-one deal.
“We talked about the season and it’s important to do this especially before exams because we have three games, including one in Charleston,” Beilein said. “It’s to have them see this experience and boy we love their support.”
“We’ve got to make sure that they look at the basket,” he said. “Sometimes they just need to play ball. Sometimes they will blow up the play and we can’t run the play anymore and there is a clear path to the hoop. Take it.”
