WVU Wins Opener
November 12, 2005 05:35 PM | General
November 12, 2005
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BEILEIN POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No Tyrone Sally. No D’or Fischer. No problem for No. 14-rated West Virginia, which opened the 2005-06 campaign with an 88-69 victory over Louisiana Monroe in a first-round game in the Guardians Classic at the WVU Coliseum Saturday afternoon.
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| Forward Mike Gansey scored 22 points and grabbed a game-high 14 rebounds to lead West Virginia to an 88-69 win over Louisiana Monroe Saturday afternoon in Morgantown.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Mike Gansey scored 22 points and grabbed 14 rebounds and Kevin Pittsnogle contributed 18 points for the Mountaineers. Frank Young contributed 13 points and guard Patrick Beilein scored all 13 of his points in the second half coming off the bench.
“There are some things obviously that we have to work on at this time of the year but it’s a win … we love and cherish every win because they are so tough to come by,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
The coach said his team needs to continue working on establishing more of an inside game.
“Whether it’s posting Kevin, posting Rob (Summers), or posting the forwards, we have to do more of that inside-out,” he said. “I thought we drove the ball well at times and I really liked J.D. (Collins’) aggression today.”
Cecil Hood led ULM with a game-high 26 points while Dalky Melendez came off the bench to score 11.
West Virginia (1-0) scored the game’s first six points and never tailed, boosting its advantage to double digits at 20-9 with 12:39 remaining in the first half on a Gansey layup.
The Mountaineers’ biggest lead of the first half was 17 at 33-16 with 8:17 remaining on a Summers lay in, but the Indians went on an 11-2 run to cut West Virginia’s lead to eight, 35-27 at 5:07. After West Virginia increased its lead to 13, Louisiana Monroe went on another run to close it to seven before Joe Herber’s lay up made it 45-36 at the break.
ULM got to within five twice in the second half, the latest being at 17:40 on a Darien Bynum lay up, but West Virginia answered with a Frank Young lay up, a Herber basket and a three by Gansey that gave the Mountaineers a more comfortable 12-point advantage.
ULM hovered around the 50-percent mark shooting the basketball and finished the game making 24 of 53 from the floor for 45.3 percent. The Indians were 10 of 21 from three-point distance for 47.6 percent.
“I was pleasantly surprised with our team’s performance today, coming into a place with a team that was ranked in the top 15,” said Louisiana Monroe coach Orlando Early. “Their seniors, with their experience and knowing how to win, they made the plays when they needed them.”
West Virginia hit 33 of 65 field-goal attempts including 17 of 32 in the second half for 53.1 percent. The Mountaineers had a one rebound advantage on the boards, 35-34.
Herber nearly had a triple double, handing out 10 assists, scoring eight points and grabbing six rebounds. West Virginia’s bench wound up giving the team 19 points, four rebounds and three assists.
“I thought our bench was terrific today between Patrick, Rob and Darris Nichols,” Beilein. “When they come in there nothing changes.
“Rob ran the floor, he rebounded and I told him, you rebound like that and you hustle the people of West Virginia will absolutely love you,” Beilein said. “He came in there and he gave Kevin a rest and he keeps going after it.”
Beilein would have liked to have dipped deeper in its bench and use freshmen Alex Ruoff and Joe Alexander but was not afforded the opportunity.
West Virginia handed out 21 assists and forced 18 turnovers. The Mountaineers committed just eight turnovers.
“We had a lot of assists for our number of baskets; I think we had an assist for every other one of our baskets,” Beilein said. “That’s a pretty good day.”
An announced crowd of 7,621 came out to witness West Virginia’s season opener.
West Virginia will meet Wofford tomorrow afternoon at 3 pm for the right to advance to Kansas City to meet the winner of the Austin, Texas regional on Monday, Nov. 21. Wofford got 24 points from Eric Marshall and 17 off the bench from Sane Nichols to defeat Fairleigh Dickinson 73-62. Nichols is the older brother of WVU guard Darris Nichols.
“I’ve watched Coach (Mike) Young’s team for many years and I respect that Southern Conference whether it was Charleston, Davidson or Wofford and they’re all very good teams. They came in here our first year and had us on the ropes and we ended up winning a close game (79-69). They’ve got a lot of shooters just like (Louisiana Monroe) and it’s tough to defend them.”
Fairleigh Dickinson will meet Louisiana Monroe in the first game to tip off at 12:30 pm.
