West Virginia University
Boston College
West Virginia Stuns BC
March 10, 2005 03:12 PM | Men's Basketball
NEW YORK – Yesterday West Virginia cracked opened the doorway to the NCAA tournament. Today the Mountaineers kicked it down.
West Virginia got a season-high 21 points from Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle contributed 17 to power the streaking Mountaineers to a stunning 78-72 upset of No. 7-rated and Big East tournament No. 1 seed Boston College Thursday afternoon at Madison Square Garden.
"(Mike) had struggled at times this year with his confidence and just his overall health," said West Virginia coach John Beilein. "He plays so hard but I thought he was both physically and mentally healthy today."
It is the first time a Mountaineer team has ever advanced past the second round of the Big East tournament in their 10 seasons in the league. The victory gives WVU its first 20-win season since 1998 when West Virginia recorded a 24-9 mark and advanced to the "Sweet 16" round of the NCAA tournament.
West Virginia (20-9) stunned the Eagles (24-4) and the growing crowd at Madison Square Garden with a torrid first half shooting display despite not having its leading scorer Tyrone Sally, hampered with the flu. Sally came to the arena just before the start of the game and sat on the bench at the 10-minute mark of the first half, though Beilein opted not to play him.
Stepping into Sally's place in the lineup was sophomore Frank Young, who came up with one of his best performances in a Mountaineer uniform. Young exceeded his career-high of 11 points by the end of the first half and finished the game with 14.
"You never expected this with Tyrone being down and Frank Young taking the first foul shots of his career today," said Beilein. "If anybody told me we would have that many turnovers (16) and shoot 60 percent from the foul line I'd say we can't win that game. But we won it."
Leading 19-8, West Virginia outscored BC 19-11 to take a 19-point lead after a Beilein free throw. The Eagles closed the lead to 16 on three straight points from Steve Hailey, but the Mountaineers got back-to-back threes from Young including one from NBA distance right before the halftime buzzer to put West Virginia up 44-22.
"I just think we were loose as a goose in the first half because we knew that Tyrone wasn't there," said Beilein. "We have a bunch of kids that really care about following the game plan, about doing what's right for each other and sometimes they are so caring that they're over cautious."
A Gansey three-point play at the start of the second half gave West Virginia its biggest lead of the game at 25.
But Boston College chipped away at West Virginia's lead by using pressure defense and covering the Mountaineers' shooters. West Virginia has able to survive a second half in which it made just five field goals.
A Sean Marshall jump shot got BC's deficit to 20 at 16:11 and the Eagles trimmed it to 10, 54-44, with 10:18 left on a Jermaine Watson lay up.
West Virginia fans grew more concerned when Marshall drilled a three with 4:45 left to pull BC to within four, 62-58, but J.D. Collins responded with a clutch shot in the lane to put West Virginia back up by six.
A big Pittsnogle three with 3:19 remaining gave West Virginia a 67-58 advantage and the Mountaineers were able to make enough free throws down the stretch to preserve one of the school's finest victories.
West Virginia shot 22 of 40 field goals for 55 percent including 10 of 19 from three-point range. The Mountaineers shot 37 free throws, making 24 for 64.8 percent.
Boston College made 25 of 55 field goal attempts for 45.5 percent. The Eagles, just an average three-point shooting team, made five of 19 from behind the arc for 26.3 percent. Boston College grabbed 13 offensive rebounds and finished the game out-rebounding the Mountaineers 31-27.
Both teams committed 16 turnovers.
Craig Smith scored 20, Jared Dudley contributed 17 and Marshall added 15 for an Eagle team making their final appearance in New York playing in the Big East tournament. Boston College joins the Atlantic Coast Conference next season. It was just the fourth time a number one seed has lost in the first round of the Big East tournament.
Boston College has now lost four of its last eight games and has probably dropped to a four or five seed in the NCAA tournament.
Yesterday on his post-game radio show Beilein refused to admit his team was in the NCAA tournament. Today he maintained his position.
"I think five more wins will put us in," Beilein joked.
West Virginia will face the winner of the Pitt-Villanova game now underway on Friday night at 7 pm. The game will be televised on ESPN.
