Huskies Hold On
January 25, 2005 09:44 PM | General
January 25, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – If West Virginia was going to upset No. 16 Connecticut Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum it needed to have a good shooting night. Unfortunately it didn’t happen once again. West Virginia (11-6, 1-5) took 20 more shots than Connecticut (12-4, 4-2) but could manage to make just 29 percent of them in a 68-58 loss to the Huskies.
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| Tyrone Sally scored 16 points to lead three West Virginia double-figure scorers during Tuesday night's 68-58 loss to Connecticut.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Rashad Anderson made six of his nine field-goal attempts and was six of six from the foul line for a game-high 22 points for UConn. Charlie Villanueva added 16 points on 12 of 14 from the foul line and Marcus Williams contributed 12.
“(Anderson) made open shots and Williams made two threes and he’s only made eight on the year I think,” Beilein said.
The Mountaineers thought they might be coming out of their five-game shooting funk by hitting 10 threes in an eight-point loss at No. 7 Syracuse last Saturday afternoon, but West Virginia once again couldn’t find its stroke with friendly rims.
“There was one common element: we weren’t making shots,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “But I thought we played hard and we only had five turnovers. Defensively, this is a terrific team and if we don’t have to put them at the foul line at the end, the game is in the 60s or the high 50s which is where we wanted it.”
Tyrone Sally was aggressive taking the basketball to the basket and finished with 16 points for West Virginia. Patrick Beilein contributed 12 but was just three of 12 from the floor including two of 10 from three. Kevin Pittsnogle added 10 off the bench on four of 13 shooting. West Virginia’s two centers D’or Fischer and Pittsnogle finished the game a combined five-of-19 shooting.
“I don’t have more plays and we can’t get people more open,” said Beilein. “I’ve said just keep shooting it and keep shooting it.”
An irritated Connecticut team coming off a 10-point home loss to Pitt last Saturday was able to overcome 16 turnovers by making some timely threes and converting its free throws.
West Virginia made just two baskets (a Sally three and a Fischer dunk) through the first nine minutes of the game and Connecticut built an 11-point advantage, 20-9, at 7:05 on a Josh Boone jumper from the foul line.
The Mountaineers were able to cut UConn’s margin to five three times in the first half, the last at 25-20, before a Rashad Anderson hit a three with 2:47 remaining.
Connecticut Coach Jim Calhoun spent a good portion of the game working the refs and it finally paid off near the end of the first half when a charging call on Sally turned into a five-point swing for the Huskies. Sally’s basket with 1:01 left would have cut Connecticut’s lead to four but it was waved off. On the other end Marcus Williams was able to convert a three with 41 seconds left to put the Huskies up by nine, 31-22.
After trimming Connecticut’s lead to five, 35-30, at 15:26 on a Sally jumper, the Huskies went on a 10-2 run to build its lead to 13, at 9:58. Another surge by the Mountaineers got the Connecticut lead back to five, 47-42, at 7:18, but UConn answered with another Anderson three.
Connecticut controlled the boards, holding a 47-27 rebounding advantage and also finished 25 of 31 from the free throw line.
The Mountaineers have now lost five in a row and six of their last seven.
“The worst thing we can do right now is make people play gun-shy and if they haven’t made shots in a while say, ‘Stop shooting it,’” Beilein said. “We’ve got to stay with what we’re doing and then all of the sudden any of these guys that are not shooting the ball well are going to go four for four from three or make shots inside and all of the sudden it’s a whole different season for us.
“It would be a crying game for these kids to start quitting on themselves and quitting on their teammates as far as wondering whether can we win or not,” Beilein added. “It’s been a very difficult schedule, they’re doing all the right things, the ball isn’t dropping and we just can’t stop. One of these games we’re going to win and we may not lose again.”
West Virginia resumes Big East play at Providence this Saturday at 7:30 pm. The 9-8 Friars are still searching for their first conference win and face Boston College Wednesday night before playing the Mountaineers.
