Tough Stuff
February 25, 2006 05:07 PM | General
February 25, 2006
GAME INFO: BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY
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BEILEIN POSTGAME PRESS CONFERENCE
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Even though his team was fighting an uphill battle, Louisville coach Rick Pitino saw an opportunity with five seconds left and his team trailing by only three to West Virginia after Andre McGee’s basket.
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| West Virginia's Kevin Pittsnogle scores two of his team-high 21 points during Saturday's 68-64 win over Louisville at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
McGee was fouled by West Virginia’s Kevin Pittsnogle on the play and had an opportunity to cut the Mountaineers’ lead to two with a made free throw.
However, Pitino instructed his freshman, just a 51.1 percent free throw shooter, to miss the foul shot and to have his two 6-foot-9-inch big men Juan Palacios and Brian Johnson crash the glass. A rebound and a quick kick out to the wing to either Taquan Dean or Brandon Jenkins for a 3 and Louisville would have completely erased an 11-point lead and tied the game.
But McGee made the foul shot and J.D. Collins was able to cash in on two free throws at the other end to give No. 14 West Virginia a hard-fought, 68-64 victory over the Cardinals Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
West Virginia coach John Beilein was also thinking about a missed McGee free throw and only put three rebounders in the lane and had two players fan out to the wings.
“That’s why I called the timeout because I thought he was going to do that with 4.4,” said Beilein. “The kid tried to miss and thank goodness he made it. They had the two shooters ready for the kick out.
“Somebody has got to get the ball to them on the wing so we tried to stay with the two shooters and we still had them outnumbered 3 to 2,” Beilein said.
West Virginia (19-8, 10-4) could never quite shake a persistent Louisville team that has only won once on the road in eight tries now. The Mountaineers built an early nine-point, 21-12 lead on a lay up by Pittsnogle with 7:52 left in the first half, but Louisville went on a 19-10 run to tie the game at halftime.
“I thought there was a space in the first half when we could get away from them but it’s just really hard to guard a guy like Dean,” said Beilein. “He just presents so many problems with the big guys setting the ball screens.”
As it did in last year’s NCAA tournament, West Virginia had great difficulty guarding Louisville’s Taquan Dean, who scored 10 in the first half and finished with a game-high 25 on 9 of 18 shooting.
“We got them out of the 1-3-1 zone and we really did a great job of attacking it,” said Pitino. “We were making good plays and pressuring it.”
A 3 by Dean to start the second half gave Louisville a 34-31 lead, and the Cardinals led by four on a Juan Palacios 3 with 16:54 left in the game.
Back to back baskets by Kevin Pittsnogle and Joe Herber tied the game, and a Pittsnogle 3 gave the Mountaineers a 44-42 lead. Collins provided West Virginia with more room on a big 3 from the top of the key at 12:11, and a goal-tended lay up by Mike Gansey put the Mountaineers’ lead at five, 50-45 with 8:15 remaining.
Another huge 3 by Collins two minutes later gave the Mountaineers an eight-point, 53-45 advantage, and a soft jumper by Gansey in the lane made it 57-47, West Virginia.
Beilein was particularly happy to see Collins knock down those two second-half 3-point shots.
“We talked to him about they could play off him in that zone and let him shoot,” Beilein said. “I told him, ‘You need to shoot it.’ He knows his job is to run the team and not shoot it unless he was open and when he was open today he banged them. That 3 he hit with 12 minutes to go was a big basket for us.”
Free throws were also important for West Virginia down the stretch. Having gone the entire Syracuse game without shooting a single free throw and going the whole first half without trying one against the Cardinals, the Mountaineers made 12 of 16 in the second half including 9 of 11 inside the three-minute mark.
Pittsnogle led the Mountaineers with 21 points on 10 of 15 shooting. The center made nine of his 10 field goals inside the 3-point arc.
“Pittsnogle has improved his game … he’s added to it,” said Pitino. “It’s not that I didn’t like his game, but when you’re a 6-11, strictly a jump shooter, you can be played. But now he’s got some offensive moves coming off his left shoulder -- he’s going to the basket more off the dribble.
“Anytime you see a wise, older player who has made his game better you have great respect for that and he’s done that,” Pitino said.
A couple of Pittsnogle’s baskets were aggressive dunks off the dribble.
“That should show him something of what he can do when he goes a little bit harder to the basket,” Beilein said. “Sometimes he just tries to go up there and have too much finesse. The last one … we’ve never seen that in a game or a practice, ever.”
Gansey added 17 points on 7 of 15 shooting and Collins finished with a career-high 13 points. The senior had a terrific all-around game, grabbing five rebounds, handing out three assists and turning the basketball over just one time against Louisville’s constant pressure.
Palacios was the only other Cardinal to reach double figures with 14 points.
West Virginia was able to overcome an 8 for 31 shooting effort (25.8 percent) from behind the 3-point line by making 16 of 35 from inside the arc.
“I thought we had great looks but we didn’t knock down too many of them and it’s rare to see a game where we play a top-level team like that and we shoot 25 percent (from 3) and win,” Beilein said. “We only had two turnovers in the second half and I thought that was a key.”
The Mountaineers also held their own on the backboards being out-rebounded by only eight against the Cardinals. U of L shot 43.1 percent overall (23 of 58) and made 10 of 26 from 3-point distance.
“(West Virginia) is a very different type of basketball team,” Pitino said. “You just don’t see a team with this type of assist-to-turnover ratio. Where we put a lot of defensive pressure on an opponent, they hurt you by putting offensive pressure on you.”
Louisville (17-10, 5-9) was looking for a signature victory over a ranked team like West Virginia to improve its NCAA tournament resume.
“For Louisville basketball we don’t like coming off a Final Four and having this type of season, but, we’re 17-10 and we have a great future,” Pitino. “The coaching staff and the players are not down at all.”
The Mountaineers have a quick turnaround facing Pitt on Monday night at the WVU Coliseum for a 7 pm game. The Panthers play Providence in Pittsburgh later tonight.
