By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
March 10, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – You have to dig deep into the WVU record books to find a West Virginia victory more impressive than Thursday’s 78-27 win over No. 1-seeded Boston College.
Old timers will have a tough time placing today’s win over No. 7-ranked Boston College ahead of West Virginia’s pair of wins against North Carolina and Kentucky in the 1957 KIT, or West Virginia’s Final Four run in 1959.
But when you take into account wins over the last 10-15 years, today’s triumph against the out-going Eagles has to come close to WVU’s upset of top-10-ranked Cincinnati in 1998 to get to the NCAA tournament “Sweet 16.” At the very least, it was West Virginia’s finest performance against a Big East foe since joining the league in 1995-96.
West Virginia has now defeated five AP-ranked teams so far this year, matching the 1998 team’s total for wins against ranked teams. Mountaineer coach John Beilein has now won six career games against AP-ranked teams, passing George King for third in school history just behind Gale Catlett (21) and Fred Schaus (10).
Beilein has won more games against nationally ranked teams in a shorter period of time than any coach in school history.
More Notes:
West Virginia University president David C. Hardesty Jr. was one of the first persons to congratulate the team on its impressive performance Thursday as a visitor to the Mountaineer locker room.
Mike Gansey scored his West Virginia career-high of 21 points Thursday afternoon against Boston College. Gansey’s collegiate high is 27 points scored against Michigan while playing at St. Bonaventure. West Virginia is now 15-4 when Gansey scores double figures.
How about the jobs Frank Young and J.D. Collins did Thursday. Collins has been solid in both tournament wins, hitting two big three-point baskets yesterday against Providence and adding seven today against Boston College. Don’t forget it was Collins’ jumper to stop a BC run that had pulled the Eagles to within four late in the game.
“We had a long bus trip the first day, today Tyrone couldn’t play and I got stuck on the elevator and we had a 22-point lead and they fought back,” said Collins. “But we stayed together and we pulled it out.”
And Young responded with a career-high 14 points after being notified right before the game that he was going to start in place of Tyrone Sally, suffering the effects of a stomach ailment. Young made a pair of threes right before the end of the half including one from NBA distance jus ahead of the buzzer to put the Mountaineers up by 22.
John Beilein pointed out on his post-game show that Frank Young attempted his first two free throws of his career Thursday against Boston College – his 47th career game for the Mountaineers.
“I found out when we were getting ready to go out for warm-ups,” said Young. “It was the first time starting in Madison Square Garden and I had a lot of nerves. I was even starting to get a little queasy at times but once I got my first couple of shots up and got a rebound I started feeling alright.”
Joe Herber finished the game with a solid line of eight points, eight rebounds, three assists and two steals. Herber is within one of tying All-American Rod Thorn for 11th on the WVU career assist list with 304.
Patrick Beilein is one three away from tying Marsalis Basey for third on the school’s all-time three-point-field-goals-made list with 169.
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Kevin Pittsnogle is averaging better than 17 points over his last 10 games.
AP Photo/Julie Jacobson |
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Kevin Pittsnogle has scored 24 and 17 points so far in the Big East tournament and is averaging better than 17 points per game over his last 10 contests. Pittsnogle got his 17 points today on just nine shot attempts. The 6-foot-11 junior is just 21 points shy of becoming the school’s 42nd 1,000-point scorer. Sally, who reached 1,000 points in his final home game of the year against Rutgers, now shows 1,034 to put him in 36th place ahead of Lee Patrone (1959-61). Sally needs 15 more to get past Drew Schifino in 35th place.
Wonder how many games West Virginia still needs to win to jump past Notre Dame into the NCAA tournament in the eyes of Digger Phelps?
West Virginia reached 20 wins in a season for the first time since 1997-98 and the 22nd time overall.
The Mountaineers endured an 11-minute drought without scoring a field goal and only converted five in the second half.
The Mountaineers have now made at least 10 three-pointers in a game in four of their last five games. The only time they didn’t was when they made eight in a 66-63 loss at Seton Hall to finish the regular season.
West Virginia legend Jerry West was in attendance at Madison Square Garden for both of the Mountaineers’ victories against Providence and Boston College. While being interviewed by ESPN West admitted he was concerned about his alma mater’s ability to hang on and upset BC.
Boston College players Craig Smith and Jared Dudley drew boos from the crowd when they pumped their fists and raised their arms during their comeback from 25 points down. At the end of the game fans serenaded Boston College to a chorus of ‘ACC’ as the team left the floor.
I know of at least four athletic directors in New York City right now complimenting WVU Director of Athletics Ed Pastilong for the way his team performed against Boston College, knocking the Eagles out of the tournament and sending them down to the Tobacco-Triangle without claiming a Big East tournament title.
The Mountaineer team took in a little of Villanova’s win over Pitt in the second game before getting a pasta meal at Carmines in Times Square. Tyrone Sally left immediately after the game and returned to the hotel to rest up in an effort to try and play against Villanova tomorrow night.
The Mountaineers are facing a Villanova team that has knocked them out of the Big East tournament twice previously. West Virginia lost a 73-61 first-round game to the Wildcats in 1999 and an 82-71 first-round decision in 2001.
With Notre Dame losing last night to bottom-seeded Rutgers, the consensus in New York is that the Big East is probably going to get six teams into the NCAA tournament unless Georgetown can pull off a big upset against Connecticut later tonight.
