St. Bonaventure Preview
December 06, 2004 12:07 PM | General
December 6, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – An old rivalry from West Virginia’s Atlantic 10 days will be renewed when the Mountaineers take on St. Bonaventure Tuesday night at the Charleston Civic Center.
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| Freshman Darris Nichols scored a season-high 10 points in West Virginia's 78-44 win over Radford Saturday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“We look forward to this trip every year because we know we have such a strong fan base down in the Southern part of the state,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
The Bonnies are in their second year of rebuilding under Coach Anthony Soloman after posting a 7-21 record last season. So far this season St. Bonaventure is winless in five tries, having dropped games to Iona, Marist, Canisius, Syracuse and most recently, Cornell.
Three of St. Bonaventure’s five losses have been on the road.
“Anthony comes from a long line of good coaches,” said Beilein. “It looks like they’re going to play good man; they’re going to mix in some zone and pressure you at times. They have fairly good quickness and a lot of slashers. Guarding slashers is always difficult.”
Six-foot-four junior guard Wade Dunston has led the Bonnies in scoring in three of their five games this year including a season-high 22 in the opener against Iona. Dunston, averaging 14 points per game, ranks second to 6-foot-7 junior forward Patrick Lottin’s 15.5 points-per-game average for the team lead in scoring.
Lottin scored 21 in a loss to Canisius and most recently had 18 in a four-point loss to Cornell.
The remainder of St. Bonaventure’s probable starting lineup is made up of 6-foot-11 senior center Yankuba Camara (2.2 ppg., 2.8 rpg.), 6-foot-5 junior guard Ahmad Smith (8.2 ppg., 5.8 rpg.) and 6-foot-1 freshman guard Isiah Carson (2.4 ppg., 2.2 rpg.).
The Bonnies are averaging 57.8 points per game and are shooting 36.7 percent from the floor. St. Bonaventure has attempted 80 three-point attempts, making 23 for 28.7 percent.
“One thing they’ll offer is that they’ll have four lefthanders out there a great deal,” said Beilein. “I think I’ve had five or six of them in my career and they have four of them on the floor an awful lot.”
Meanwhile, West Virginia is coming off a 34-point home win against Radford last Saturday night. Junior forward Mike Gansey led five double-figurer scorers with 15 points. Tyrone Sally added 13 and Kevin Pittsnogle, Patrick Beilein and Darris Nichols each reached double figures coming off the bench. For Nichols, a 6-foot-1 freshman, it was his first career double-figure scoring effort.
Sally leads the Mountaineers with an average of 16.5 points per game. He has made 26 of 48 field goal attempts for 54.2 percent.
Pittsnogle is shooting a blistering 63.6 percent from the floor including 58.3 percent from three-point range and is averaging 13 points per game. Gansey follows with a 12.0 points-per-game average while Beilein is averaging 11.8. Including senior center D’or Fischer, who averages 9.8 points per game, all five of West Virginia’s top scorers are shooting better than 54 percent from the floor.
Gansey, a St. Bonaventure transfer, will be facing some of his former teammates for the first time Tuesday night. “In the Radford game with Darris Nichols there was some underlying meaning to it and this game there will be some for Mike,” Beilein said. “When Mike plays out there things don’t bother him too much. I think he’s pretty comfortable playing the game.
“But they have a lot of new players now from when he was there,” Beilein added.
Tuesday night’s contest will be the 39th time these two schools have hooked up on the hardwood. West Virginia owns a 32-6 overall record against the Bonnies.
Game time is 7 pm and there is no live television.
Fans interested in purchasing tickets in advance can do so by calling the Charleston Civic Center Box Office at (304) 342-5757.
