Crunch Time
March 07, 2005 03:51 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is going to face the one team no one wanted to see in the first round of the Big East tournament Wednesday afternoon: Providence.
"Nobody wanted to play Providence in the first round and we get that opportunity and it's a tough one," said West Virginia coach John Beilein. They are very good and they've lost a lot of close games. Playing against the likes of Donnie McGrath, Ryan Gomes and (Tuukka) Kotti, who is way underrated -- we'll have a tough game."
West Virginia could have gone a long way in putting a lid on its first NCAA tournament bid in eight years with a win at Seton Hall, but the Mountaineers (18-9, 8-8) got off to a bad start and couldn't make up enough ground in the second half in losing 66-63 to the Pirates.
The Mountaineers came into the Seton Hall game having won four straight and six of their last seven including a pair of wins over nationally ranked Pitt. Those two Pitt wins will be at the top of WVU's NCAA tournament resume.
"Certainly our home win with Pitt after we had lost quite a few games and then beating them again on the road gave us some credibility to our resume as to what we can do," Beilein said.
Providence, meanwhile, put Georgetown's NCAA tournament hopes on life support with a 68-65 win at the MCI Center last Saturday night. Providence has won its last two games and three of its last four to improve its record to 14-16.
The Friars still have a lot of work to do to qualify for an NIT bid, needing at least three victories in the Big East tournament to finish the year with a .500 record.
Even though West Virginia swept both games from Providence this season, it did so by a combined six points. Providence had a chance to win the game in Morgantown but freshman Jeff Parmer's wide-open three-point shot at the buzzer rimmed out.
In the win at Providence back on Jan. 29, West Virginia nearly blew a 16-point first-half lead and had to hang on for an 82-78 win.
"Both games were battles," said Beilein. "Both teams were hungry: we were on a losing streak and they were on a losing streak the first time. It wasn't always pretty for either team but both of us were just trying to find a win. Then the game here Donnie (McGrath) was in the middle of his shooting streak and Ryan Gomes was virtually unstoppable. The ball bounced our way a little bit here and I expect this one to be no different than the first two."
Beilein admits it will be a tough task attempting to beat a team a third time in the same season.
"We realize (it's tough) but it was tough to beat them one time this season," he said. "We were very fortunate and we had a lot of balls bounce our way in those first two wins. Providence has a very good basketball team and they've shown every single night no matter who they were playing they could play with anybody. Whether we have played them once or five times this is going to be a tough game."
Not only does West Virginia have to try and beat Providence a third time, but it must also contend with its recent Big East tournament history. The Mountaineers have been knocked out in the first round in each of the last six times they made the tournament (WVU did not go in 2002) and have only advanced to the second round once (1997) since they joined the league in 1996.
Beilein says West Virginia's Big East tournament history is irrelevant when it comes to facing the Friars Wednesday.
"I don't think anybody is thinking anything about history right now," he said. "We haven't been in the Big East a long time and our kids love New York and they would like to stay there a little bit longer. I stayed for the quarterfinals last year and watched the games and saw the enthusiasm continue to grow.
"As every coach will tell you it is just one game at a time and don't worry about the future or the history: just worry about this game with Providence."
Beilein concedes that with a few breaks the other way Providence could be the team with an 18-9 record looking to make a case for an NCAA tournament bid.
"I don't know if I've had (a season) that has had the back luck that Providence has had," he admitted. "That's what I see as being the difference with them being 8-8, 9-7 or even 10-6. They have some young players but they also have some great players and a great coaching staff."
Wednesday's game will open the 2005 Big East tournament at 2 pm. Following the West Virginia-Providence game, No. 7-seed Georgetown will play No. 10 seed Seton Hall at 7 pm. The final game of the day will feature No. 6 seed Notre Dame against No. 11 seed Rutgers at 9 pm. All three games will be televised on ESPN.
The winner of the West Virginia-Providence game will take on No. 1-seeded Boston College at noon on Thursday.
