West Virginia Prevails
February 14, 2004 03:25 PM | General
February 14, 2004
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Tyrone Sally scored 20 points and Kevin Pittsnogle added 18 to lead West Virginia to an important 67-60 win over Villanova Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
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| West Virginia's Tyrone Sally fights for a loose ball during Saturday's 67-60 win over Villanova. (All-Pro Photogrpahy/Dale Sparks) |
“That was a terrific, terrific win for us,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein, back on the sideline after missing Wednesday’s game against St. John’s with back spasms. “No. 1 Villanova is a very good team and No. 2 I didn't think as of Thursday we did a great deal of preparation as far as a coaching staff. We weren’t able to do that because I was still out.”
The Mountaineers (14-8, 6-5) jumped out to a big 19-point halftime lead and led the Wildcats 43-23 before Villanova made a comeback.
Beilein sensed Villanova was going to make a run in the second half, “We told them that they were going to make two or maybe three runs in this game,” said Beilein. “Somebody was going to have to step up and make a big shot and you can’t lose your cool during those runs.”
A 16-2 Wildcat run cut West Virginia’s lead to six, and Villanova got to within two points on a Randy Foye layup with 7:04 remaining in the game.
They were also able to get to within two at 51-49 and 53-51 before Pittnsogle answered with a critical three-point play. The sophomore was able to collect himself, go up strong and score a basket against Foye while avoiding a charging call. That gave West Virginia a 56-51 advantage with 3:20 left.
A minute later, Pittsnogle stepped up from the corner and nailed a three-point basket to give West Virginia an eight-point edge with 2:05 left.
A free throw by D’or Fischer pushed West Virginia’s lead to nine with 1:34 left and the Mountaineers were able to run clock and secure their sixth conference win of the season.
Villanova (13-10, 5-5) got off to a cold start in the first half, making just 7 of 25 field goal attempts for 28 percent. Villanova shot the ball much better in the second half, making 7 of 15 from three-point range.
At the same time Villanova got hot West Virginia went cold. The Mountaineers had just 10 points by the 10-minute mark and the only three they were able to hit came near the end of the game when Pittsnogle put the dagger into Villanova.
“I could tell at the start of the second half that Villanova was playing with a real sense of urgency,” said Beilein. “We did okay but we bungled a few things up and had some good shots we didn’t make. That was a big difference there.”
“We knew they were going to make a run it was just a matter of how we were going to contain it,” added Sally. “We tried to keep our composure and execute better.”
Joe Herber played a fantastic all-around game for West Virginia, scoring 11 points, grabbing 7 rebounds and handing our 7 assists. Nine of Herber’s 11 points came in the first half.
Fischer finished the game scoring 9 points and blocking 6 shots.
“We knew Villanova was going to play us aggressive man so Coach told us to look for the backdoor opportunities,” said Sally.
Randy Foye led Villanova with 13 points and Ray scored 12. In the last meeting at Villanova on Jan. 31, Ray scored 20 points in a 15-point Wildcat victory.
The victory puts West Virginia into a tie with Notre Dame for sixth place in the Big East standings. The Irish defeated Seton Hall 71-68 earlier today.
In other conference action, Syracuse beat Miami and Providence defeated Boston College. Beilein says he hasn’t paid that much attention to the league standings.
“I’ve tried not to get into that,” said Beilein. “I haven't thought that much about getting into the Big East tournament. You can’t play and think about staying out of last place. I can’t start thinking about the game at Virginia Tech now. You just go along and keep going.”
The Mountaineers have matched their win total for the entire season last year with five games left in the regular season.
“We’re making strides and in league play being 6-5 in the Big East; if your .500 in the Big East you’re on the cusp of being a pretty good team,” said Beilein.
West Virginia has a week off before facing No. 4 Pitt next Saturday night at the WVU Coliseum. The Panthers (22-2, 8-2) play host to No. 5 Connecticut on Sunday before traveling to Morgantown.
The game represents the 100-year anniversary celebration for Mountaineer basketball with more than 100 former players expected to be in attendance. Any former players planning to attend and haven’t yet contacted the Mountaineer Athletic Club for reservations can do so by calling the MAC office toll-free at 1-800-433-2072 beginning Monday morning.
Notebook: Beilein mentioned after the game in his post-game press conference that a suggestion made by assistant coach Jerry Dunn helped West Virginia counter Villanova’s success in attacking the 1-3-1 zone in the first game in Philadelphia, “It made a huge difference in the game.” West Virginia forward Tyrone Sally missed a few minutes of action in the first half when he was hit on the head trying to grab a rebound, “When I came off the court I kind of blacked out for a second and when I touched my head my hand was full of blood,” he said. “I went into the training room and took care of it and just came back out.” West Virginia has been able to do something this year it had a difficult time doing last year: winning close league games at home. West Virginia is 5-1 in Big East home games this year with its only loss being a 69-67 decision to Virginia Tech. Four of West Virginia’s five home conference wins this year have come by seven points or less. Sally’s 20 points Saturday against Villanova was the second time this year he’s scored 20 or more and the fourth time for his career. Villanova is now 3-10 when shooting less than 50 percent from the floor this season. The Wildcats are 10-0 when shooting 50 percent or better. In the last game Villanova was able to score 28 points in the paint against West Virginia. Saturday West Virginia was able to hold Villanova’s two starting big men Jason Fraser and Curtis Sumpter to just 15 points, “Coach kept on saying in practice that we’ve got to match their toughness and we matched up as best as we could,” said Sally.
