West Virginia University
Texas Tech
Elite Eight!
March 24, 2005 11:08 PM | Men's Basketball
ALBURQUERQUE, N.M. – West Virginia is going to the Final Eight for the first time since a guy named West was playing for the Mountaineers 46 years ago.
Kevin Pittsnogle scored 22 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead surging West Virginia to a 65-60 victory over Texas Tech and a meeting with No. 4-seeded Louisville in the Albuquerque Regional Finals Saturday night at The Pit.
It is the deepest West Virginia has gone in the tournament since Jerry West led WVU to the finals in 1959 when the Mountaineers lost 71-70 to Cal.
"There are great teams out there that have it all but maybe the teams that give the very most out of what they have are the greatest teams," said West Virginia coach John Beilein. "Even though they might not win it all (the great teams) are the ones that maximize their potential and this team is certainly doing it right now."
At each time things looked bleak for the Mountaineers, someone different came to the rescue. Junior Mike Gansey wasn't able to go for a good portion of the second half with stomach cramps and Patrick Beilein came off the bench to score 10 points and made a critical play when he secured a loose ball and was able to call timeout late in the game to preserve a possession for the Mountaineers.
"I saw the ball come off and I was running to it and Joe Herber was falling down and he actually tripped me," said Patrick Beilein. "So I kind of looked funny running over to the ball and I tried to grab it, I looked down and my feet were in bounds and I called the timeout."
Freshman Darris Nichols was asked to run the team midway through the second half when starting point guard J.D. Collins was sidelined with foul trouble. Nichols buried a clutch shot in the second half and played 12 total minutes.
Senior D'or Fischer came off the bench once again to make some key defensive plays and finished with five points, four rebounds and a blocked shot subbing for Pittsnogle.
"From what I could see both teams made it difficult for the other to do what they wanted to do offensively and defense always does that," said Texas Tech coach Bob Knight. "There were some breakdowns for us on defense and there were some breakdowns for them on defense. It was a game where it went right down to the wire, what more can I say about that?"
After trailing 12-10 early, West Virginia went on a 12-2 run to take its biggest lead of the first half, 22-14.
Beilein got the run started with a three and Mike Gansey hit back to back threes before Jarrius Jackson closed it to 19-14 with a floating jump shot. Another three by Gansey got West Virginia's lead to eight.
The Mountaineers led 24-17 when Tech went on a 9-0 run to retake the lead 26-24. Tyrone Sally answered the run with a floating jump shot to tie the game and West Virginia took a four-point lead, 30-26, on a three-pointer from the corner from J.D. Collins.
A pair of Curtis Marshall free throws and a driving lay up from Ross tied the game at 30.
Darryl Dora hit a leaning jump shot with 53 seconds left to make it 32-30 Texas Tech. West Virginia was able to tie the game once again with 22 seconds left in the half when Fischer nailed a contested 14-foot jump shot.
Pittsnogle made a basket to start the second half for West Virginia and the Mountaineers led by four, 40-36 after a pair of Pittsnogle free throws with 16:52.
But back to back steals by Giles and Ronald Ross led to fast break dunks to tie the game at 40.
Nichols answered with a jump shot before Texas Tech went on 5-0 run to go up by three, 47-44 following a Curtis Marshall three-point play.
"I thought Darris did a great job," said John Beilein. "What they were doing was whoever Ross was guarding we were going to have trouble with. He took shots at everybody."
An alert Frank Young trailing on the play was able to tip in a Gansey missed lay up and a Fischer dunk and Beilein three helped put the Mountaineers back in the lead, 51-49.
West Virginia began to take control of the game when Pittsnogle buried a clutch three with 6:12 remaining, and Sally tip in gave WVU a 58-55 advantage with 4:51 to go. A Sally steal led to a Joe Herber driving lay up with 4:37 remaining and a pair of Pittsnogle free throws with 3:59 to go gave the Mountaineers their biggest lead of the second half at seven.
Jarrius Jackson pulled Texas Tech to within four on a three-point play, a 35-second shot clock violation by the Mountaineers resulted in a Devonne Giles basket to pull the Red Raiders to within two, 62-60.
Texas Tech then had five chances to either tie the game or take the lead, but missed all five attempts including a couple of lay ups.
With 17 seconds left Pittsnogle converted both free throws to put West Virginia up four, and Ross' three-point try with 11 seconds left missed its mark and Fischer was able to secure the rebounds. Fischer made the first of two free throws with five seconds left.
"I think it was a defensive game where each team's defense was more effective than its offense was," said Knight.
Gansey, who scored 29 last Saturday against Wake Forest, finished with 11.
"Mike had stomach cramps the entire second half and he just did not feel good," said John Beilein. "I looked over at him one time and it wasn't a pretty sight when he was squatting down."
West Virginia (24-10) was just eight of 13 from the free throw line for the game, but was seven of eight when it counted in the second half. The Mountaineers made 24 of 51 from the field for 47.1 percent. WVU was nine of 22 from three for 40.9 percent.
"They are a great defensive team, perimeter oriented, they've got quick hands, quick feet and they're just a great team," said Pittsnogle of Texas Tech.
Ross scored 16 points to lead the Red Raiders, but made only eight of 22 shots. He came into Thursday's game having scored 52 points in his two previous tournament games against UCLA and Gonzaga. Jackson also had difficulties finding his shooting stroke against West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone and finished the game hitting just three of 11. Overall, Texas Tech (22-11) made 24 of 56 for 42.9 percent. The Red Raiders finished the game one of eight from three.
The two teams combined for 33 turnovers.
"You don't usually play against the 1-3-1 zone, not too many people play it," said Knight. "You've got to prepare for that and then they are an extremely well taught team on both ends of the floor. They cover well on defense for one another and they individually pressure.
"On offense they've got really good movement and read very well. We did a good job defensively against them with the exception of a couple of times and in a game like this that's going to make all the difference," Knight added.
The victory over the No. 24-ranked Red Raiders is the eighth nationally ranked team West Virginia has managed to defeat this season.
"Just to be able to experience this with my dad ...," said Patrick Beilein. "Coach Knight's son (Pat) said after the game, 'Just enjoy this with your dad.' That's what I'm going to do. I'm going to keep enjoying it ride this thing out."
The Mountaineers have now won their three NCAA tournament games by a combined total of 13 points.
"I don't know how many more games we can win but our kids are just used to playing like this and they're actually having fun and they react so well," said John Beilein.
Louisville (32-4) downed No. 1-seeded Washington in impressive fashion 93-79 in the first game earlier tonight. The regional final will be played Saturday afternoon at 4:40 pm.
