West Virginia University
Creighton
NCAA Preview
March 16, 2005 08:49 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Believe it or not, West Virginia coach John Beilein says Creighton has a better three-point shooting team than the Mountaineers.
A quick glance at the stat sheet backs Beilein up. The Blue Jays have tried 687 threes, making 285 for 41.5 percent. West Virginia is 277 of 795 for 34.8 percent. West Virginia's third-year coach believes the team that defends the three better during Thursday night's NCAA tournament first round game at Cleveland's Wolstein Center will win.
"Which ever team can defend the three-ball is going to have an advantage because both of us rely on it so much," Beilein said. "We've got to try and stay in front of them as well. They really are good at driving the ball and kicking."
In many ways, when Beilein breaks down the Creighton tape he is looking at a replica of his own basketball team.
"It seems to me that both teams play with a pretty high basketball IQ," Beilein said.
Creighton has plays a three-guard lineup led by a pair of rising juniors in 6-foot-3 Nate Funk and 6-foot Johnny Mathies. Funk is averaging 17.6 points per game and was named first team all-Missouri Valley Conference. Funk scored a season-high 35 points against Wichita State and has reached double figures in a game 51 times for his career.
Mathies has come on strong of late, averaging 15.1 points over his last 10 games and was named MVC tournament MVP in helping Creighton to the tournament title.
Six-foot-one senior Tyler McKinney was able to overcome a pair of career-threatening cornea transplants to average 6.5 points per game and hand out a team-best 177 assists.
The Blue Jays start a pair of 6-foot-8-inch forwards in sophomore Anthony Tolliver and freshman Dwayne Watts. Tolliver is a 240-pounder from Springfield, Mo, who averages 4.2 points and 4.4 rebounds per game, while Watts is a 225-pound freshman from Warrensburg, Mo., who averages 7.0 points and 3.0 rebounds per game.
Six-foot-two senior guard Kelen Miliner is Creighton's top player off the bench averaging 9.5 points and 2.4 rebounds per game. Six-foot-seven forward Jimmy Motz has appeared in all 33 games and is averaging 5.9 points and 2.3 rebounds per game. Motz, Funk and Mathies have each tried more than 100 threes and are each shooting better than 40 percent from behind the arc.
Creighton became the first team in the 98-year history of the Missouri Valley Conference to produce seven straight 20-win seasons this year. To get to 20, the Blue Jays had to beat Missouri, Ohio State, Xavier and Nebraska. Creighton enters the tournament riding an eight-game winning streak.
"The Missouri Valley Conference is a really good conference so it's not about who we're playing against because that is as close to a high major league as you can get with the success they've had. They get three teams every year," Beilein said.
Creighton is making its 15th NCAA tournament appearance and its sixth in the last seven seasons under Coach Dana Altman, whose coaching staff has 61 combined tournament games worth of experience on the bench.
"We don't have as much experience as Creighton does or a lot of teams but we do have experience now playing in the post-season," said Beilein. "Anytime you can go four games in the Garden that's pretty good post-season experience as well. We are not where other teams are but you have to start somewhere."
The only West Virginia player with NCAA experience is senior center D'or Fischer, who made the dance with Northwestern State in 2001 before transferring to WVU.
McKinney (three games), Funk and Miliner (one game each) have previous NCAA tournament experience.
Beilein announced Tuesday evening that 6-foot-7 senior forward Tyrone Sally will return to West Virginia's starting lineup. Sally came off the bench in West Virginia's last two games of the Big East tournament against Villanova and Syracuse after missing the Boston College game with an intestinal virus. Sally scored 13 points in the Syracuse loss and leads the Mountaineers in scoring with an average of 12.4 points per game.
"Tyrone was terrific on Monday," said Beilein. "We did work him out hard Monday because we wanted to get his legs back. We traditionally don't change our starting lineup unless there was a loss and we decided to go back."
Stepping into Sally's place in New York was 6-foot-5 freshman Frank Young, who scored 14 in the Boston College win and added 12 a day later against Villanova.
Six-foot-11-inch junior center Kevin Pittsnogle and 6-foot-4 forward Mike Gansey had strong efforts in New York City, each making the all-tournament team. Gansey scored a career-high 22 against Boston College and added 21 against Villanova. Pittsnogle scored 24 against Providence, had 18 against Villanova and 17 against Boston College.
Gansey is averaging 11.5 and Pittsnogle 11.2 points per game.
Six-foot-six junior Joe Herber (8.7 ppg. and 4.3 rpg.) and 5-foot-11 junior J.D. Collins (3.3 ppg. and 93 assists) are expected to join Sally, Gansey and Pittsnogle in West Virginia's starting lineup. Beilein said his team is recovering from a tough four-day stretch of games.
"The other day we had 12 guys in film and eight had ice bags," he said. "We're bumped around a little bit but so is everybody else."
West Virginia is making its first NCAA tournament appearance since its "Sweet 16" run in 1998. It is the Mountaineers' 19th NCAA appearance overall.
Thursday's game will follow the Tennessee-Chattanooga-Wake Forest game at approximately 9:40 ET.
"I'd like to play at 8 in the morning if I could – just to get up and play," Beilein said. "It's going to be a long day but it will be well worth the wait because it's the NCAA tournament. Next to the Super Bowl it's probably the greatest event in the country."
The game will be televised on CBS.
