By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
March 12, 2005
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia will be making its first-ever appearance in the Big East tournament championship game against No. 16-ranked Syracuse Saturday night at Madison Square Garden. The Mountaineers got to the title game by upsetting No. 7-ranked Boston College and No. 19 Villanova in successive days.
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Mike Gansey points skyward after making his free throw with 0.2 seconds left to lift West Virginia to a 78-76 upset over Villanova Friday night in the Big East semifinals.
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West Virginia’s win over 19th-ranked Villanova was the Mountaineers’ sixth win over a nationally ranked team this season – the most in a single season in school history. The previous best was five ranked wins during West Virginia’s “Sweet 16” run in the NCAA tournament in 1998.
The pair of ranked wins in the tournament now gives West Virginia 47 triumphs over nationally ranked teams; Coach John Beilein has seven of them.
West Virginia’s nationally ranked wins this year:
71-65 vs. No. 20 George Washington
82-69 at No. 17 N.C. State
83-78 vs. No. 16 Pitt
70-66 at No. 18 Pitt
78-72 vs. No. 7 Boston College
78-76 vs. No. 19 Villanova
The Mountaineers have played four other games against ranked teams and will face their 11th nationally ranked foe tonight when they play No. 16 Syracuse. The most ranked teams West Virginia faced in a season prior to this year were eight during the 2000-01 campaign.
Beilein is now third among all WVU coaches with his seven victories over ranked teams. Here is the list of West Virginia’s coaches and how they have fared against AP nationally ranked teams since 1950:
Gale Catlett, 21-54 (.280)
Fred Schaus, 10-11 (.476)
John Beilein, 7-14 (.333)
George King, 5-11 (.312)
Red Brown, 2-4 (.333)
Bucky Waters, 1-6 (.142)
Sonny Moran, 1-10 (.091)
Lee Patton, 0-2 (.000)
Joedy Gardner, 0-8 (.000)
A lot has been made about West Virginia’s RPI strength of schedule, which is ranked 101 heading into tonight’s game against Syracuse. But N.C. State and LSU, both WVU non-conference victims earlier this year, are still alive in their respective conference tournaments as well as George Washington. The Wolfpack upset No. 1-seeded Wake Forest in the quarterfinals of the ACC tournament Friday and LSU had an easy time with Auburn to get to today’s SEC semis. George Washington faces St. Joseph’s in the Atlantic 10 finals at 6 o’clock tonight.
How about this three-game tournament line score for point guard J.D. Collins: 8 of 13 FGs, 5 of 7 3FGs, 8 rebounds, 16 assists, 23 points and 5 steals. That’s a pretty solid tournament for West Virginia’s junior point guard. Collins played his most minutes of the tournament Friday night against Villanova with 35, but he says he’s ready to go for the championship game against Syracuse.
“I’m not tired at all. I’m just excited about the situation that we’re in right now,” he said. “I feel kind of rested, my knee still hurts, but I’ll be alright.”
Collins made up for his critical turnover by driving into the lane and dishing to Joe Herber for the go-ahead three with 19 seconds left.
“I could have easily put my head down but I threw it to Kevin, he hit me right back and I saw a lane and I took it. They gave help on me because I drove the ball a couple of times before and I hit Joe in the corner,” said Collins. “I looked up and Joe was wide open and that was it. I was so happy after (committing the turnover).”
Frank Young’s line has not been too shabby the last two days either. The 6-foot-5 sophomore swingman scored a career-high 14 points in the upset of Boston College and followed that up with 12 points in yesterday’s win over Villanova. In his last two games Young has made 9 of 16 field goal attempts including 5 of 9 from three and has grabbed 6 rebounds replacing Tyrone Sally in the starting lineup.
“I’m on cloud nine right now, I’m feeling real good,” Young said after Friday night’s win over Villanova. “I’m just happy that I’ve been able to go out there, hit some shots and play good defense.
“I didn’t really have any nervous (against Villanova),” Young said. “Once I got that first start I got all those nerves out.”
West Virginia has now made 35 three-point field goals in its three Big East tournament wins over Providence, Boston College and Villanova. The Mountaineers have now made 10 or more threes in 15 games this year and are 14-1 in those games. The only loss came at Syracuse when West Virginia hit 10 of 31 threes.
Tonight’s game will be the first time West Virginia has faced Syracuse in Big East tournament play. The Orange downed the Mountaineers 72-64 in the Carrier Dome earlier this season.
West Virginia has won its last 35 games when leading in the final minute of play.
Kevin Pittsnogle is averaging 17.5 points per game since being inserted into the starting lineup 11 games ago. The junior is averaging 19.7 points per game in the Big East tournament.
Mike Gansey’s 22-point, 10-rebound double-double against Villanova was the fourth time the 6-foot-4 junior has managed a double-double in a game this season. He is the only West Virginia player to manage a double-double so far this year.
If Beilein can pull off another upset tonight against Syracuse, it will be the 500th victory of his career. Beilein has never beaten Syracuse and its coach Jim Boeheim in five previous meetings.
The Mountaineers have now made 268 threes this year besting the previous school record held last year when they made 236 threes. West Virginia has made at least 200 threes in a season all three years Beilein has been at WVU.
Junior Kevin Pittsnogle is three points shy of scoring 1,000 for his career. The Martinsburg native will become the 42nd Mountaineer player to achieve that, joining teammate Tyrone Sally, who now shows 1,034 career points.
Former Mountaineer standout player Brent Solheim, a member of WVU’s 1998 NCAA tournament team, was among those calling the Point-After Show on the MetroNews Radio Network. “It was incredible,” he said of West Virginia’s win Friday night. “The three years I played here at the Big East tournament we only won one game. Watching these guys the last three nights has been extremely exciting.
“They have great chemistry and you can tell they all get along and they all like to play with each other – there’s no selfishness or anything like that,” Solheim said. “They’re a really positive team and they are really fun to watch them all season.”
Solheim says he plans on driving to New York City today to watch West Virginia in the Big East finals.
West Virginia’s run in this year’s Big East tournament has to compare favorably with some of the Mountaineers’ other fabulous accomplishments in school history: West Virginia sweeping three games in Madison Square Garden to win the 1942 NIT; WVU defeating defending national champion North Carolina and top-10-ranked Kentucky to win the KIT and earn a No. 1 national ranking; West Virginia making a run to the NCAA tournament finals in 1959, beating nationally ranked St. Joe’s in the regionals and then dominating Louisville on its home floor in the Final Four; and the Mountaineers upsetting nationally ranked Temple and Cincinnati to reach the NCAA “Sweet 16” in 1998.
With the Mountaineers virtually a lock for an NCAA tournament at-large selection, West Virginia will be making its 19th appearance in the national tournament and its first in eight seasons. West Virginia’s first NCAA tournament bid came 50 years ago in 1955.
