Close Call
February 01, 2006 10:21 PM | General
February 1, 2006
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BEILEIN POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It’s starting to look like a broken record to Notre Dame coach Mike Brey. Fall behind big early, shoot your way back into the game, get the shot you want at the end and miss it to lose the game.
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| West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle drives to the basket for two of his team-high 22 points against Notre Dame Wednesday night.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Wednesday night, Chris Quinn’s running jumper with a second left was off the mark and No. 11 West Virginia escaped with a 71-70 victory over the tough luck Irish. Notre Dame drops to 10-9, 1-7, and has its work cut out for it to make the 12-team Big East tournament in New York City.
The Mountaineers, 16-4, 7-0, remains a half-game ahead of second-place Connecticut in the Big East standings. West Virginia snapped its 11-game losing streak to Notre Dame dating back to the 1998-99 season, it was the first time the Mountaineers have defeated a Mike Brey-coached Notre Dame team.
“That was a great basketball game,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “(Notre Dame) made remarkable shots and are just tough defend.”
At the outset, it looked like it was going to be a piece of cake. West Virginia scored the game’s first 10 points and led by 15, 32-17, after a 3-point basket by Patrick Beilein with 5:50 remaining in the first half.
“Our transition defense hurt us early and we weren’t able to get back,” said Brey.
But Notre Dame used the 3-ball to get back into the game. Back-to-back 3s by Quinn and Kyle McLarney pulled the Irish to within seven, 37-30, and five straight points by Rick Cornett and Quinn got the Irish to within four, 39-35, at the break.
A 7-0 run by Notre Dame at the start of the second half gave the Irish a three-point, 42-39 lead, before Kevin Pittsnogle answered with a jumper.
“We got some guys off the bench and played smaller to start the second half and maybe that’s what we need to do to start from now on,” said Brey.
A big 3 from Frank Young gave the Mountaineers back the lead at 44-42. Notre Dame regained the lead with 5:14 left on a Russell Carter 3 and once again Pittsnogle was able to answer with another 3 on West Virginia’s end.
Leading 66-65, Pittsnogle converted a double-clutching basket with 2:44 remaining, and a bit three-point play by Joe Herber lifted West Virginia’s lead to six, 71-65. Carter hit a jumper from the right baseline with 1:26 left to make it 71-67, and a turnover by J.D. Collins turned into a 3 from the corner from Quinn.
“We were all over them a couple of times but Quinn and Falls are just exceptional players,” Beilein said.
Leading 71-70, West Virginia was unable to convert with 15 seconds left when Herber’s driving lay up rimmed out.
Beilein opted to use to fouls to run clock and then called a timeout with 3.8 seconds left to get an opportunity to organize his defense. It also gave Brey a chance to diagram a play.
“I like the sideline inbound with 3.8 to go because we were able to get our guy where we wanted,” Brey said. “He got a good shot, it just didn’t go in.”
Pittsnogle led the Mountaineers with 22 points on 8 of 15 shooting. The senior made 4 of 9 from 3 and also grabbed four rebounds.
Mike Gansey contributed 13 points on 5 of 7 shooting, while Herber added 10. West Virginia made 27 of 56 for 48.2 percent and committed only seven turnovers.
“We only had seven turnovers but every one seemed crippling,” Beilein said.
Notre Dame was 14 of 26 from 3 and out-rebounded West Virginia 41-22.
Quinn scored 24 and Falls added 18 for the Irish.
A sell-out crowd of 13,672 witnessed the game. West Virginia is just the 12th team in Big East history to begin the season 7-0 in conference play.
West Virginia remains at home to face Cincinnati on Saturday at the Coliseum. That game is set to tip off at noon and will be televised by ESPN Regional.
