WVU to Face Southern Ill.
March 12, 2006 08:19 PM | General
March 12, 2006
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – For a second straight year West Virginia will face the Missouri Valley Conference tournament champion in the first round of the NCAA tournament.
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| West Virginia's John Beilein leans over his son Patrick to answer a question following the announcement that the team will play Southern Illinois in an NCAA tournament first round game in Auburn Hills, Mich. The team watched the NCAA selection show at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
Last year, West Virginia defeated Creighton, 63-61 on the way to an Elite Eight appearance against Louisville. This year, the No. 6-seeded Mountaineers will have to get past MVC tournament champion Southern Illinois in a first-round game in Auburn Hills, Mich., on Friday, March 17. Game times will be announced later this evening.
“I’m happy for us to be in the NCAA tournament and this is terrific for us to go in back-to-back years,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “The seeding I think is sometimes overblown; it’s a game about match-ups.”
Eleventh-seeded Southern Illinois posted a 22-10 record this year and is one of four Missouri Valley Conference schools to make this year’s NCAA tournament, joining Bradley, Northern Iowa and Wichita State. The Salukis downed Northern Iowa 55-46 in the MVC semifinals in overtime, and knocked off Bradley 59-46 in the championship game last Sunday.
“I think that conference has taken the step from being a mid-major to a high-major,” said Beilein. “There are 34 conferences and one-through-10 are one of the high-majors and the Missouri Valley is one of the top 10 conferences. We find in our recruiting and when we go to the Midwest those are the teams that we’re in competition with.”
Coach Chris Lowery returned to his alma mater in 2005 after spending a year on Bruce Weber’s staff at Illinois. Lowery guided Southern Illinois to a 27-8 record last year and a second round trip to the NCAA tournament. His two-year record is an impressive 49-18.
“Right now I know very little about Southern Illinois but I’ll know a lot about them in the next couple of days,” Beilein said. “All I know is that that conference is a very good conference with quality teams every year. We’re going to have to play a stellar game to win; you don’t play any easy games now.”
Six-two junior guard Jamal Tatum is Southern Illinois’ top scorer averaging 15.1 points per game. The Jefferson City, Mo., resident has taken a team-leading 434 shots and is making 36.4 percent of his field goal attempts. He has gone to the foul line 137 times and has made 107 for 78.1 percent.
Six-foot point guard Tony Young is the only other Saluki averaging double figures at 11.7 points per game. The Schaumburg, Ill., native has made the most 3-point baskets on the team this year (63) and is shooting 39.8 percent overall.
Six-seven sophomore forward Randal Falker is averaging 9.1 points and a team-best 8.0 rebounds per game. The St. Louis resident is shooting a team-best 51.1 percent from the field.
Southern Illinois has played 11 games this year against teams in this year’s NCAA tournament field and were 7-4. Outside of league play the Salukis faced Monmouth (80-68, L), Kent State (58-51, W) and Murray State (57-53, W) which made the tournament.
“It’s the same Bruce Weber style, outstanding man-to-man defense and outstanding athletes,” Beilein said.
West Virginia (20-10) is one of a record eight Big East teams to make the field of 65 this year. The 21st-rated Mountaineers were knocked out of the Big East tournament by Pitt in the quarterfinals, and have lost six of their last nine playing one of the toughest schedules in school history.
The Mountaineers played 15 games against teams in this year’s NCAA tournament winning seven.
“Nothing will be a surprise for us as far as the talent level,” Beilein said. “We ended up being successful against a No. 1 seed (Villanova) and a No. 2 (UCLA). That’s pretty good to have beaten a one and a two in the same year.”
Six-eleven senior center Kevin Pittsnogle is the Mountaineers’ top scorer averaging 19.5 points per game. Pittsnogle scored a team 22 points in West Virginia’s 68-57 loss to Pitt in the Big East quarterfinals last Thursday. Forward Mike Gansey averages 17.2 points per game and scored 10 against the Panthers before leaving the game with 10 minutes to play with abdominal cramps.
“Mike practiced today and he looked good,” said Beilein. “We weren’t overly concerned about it but at the same time we do need him to get back and be 100 percent.”
The West Virginia-Southern Illinois winner will meet the winner of Iowa and Northwestern State on Sunday, March 19. Beilein has never coached against Southern Illinois.
“I would prefer to play someone that I don’t have any history with unlike, say, UNC Wilmington who we’ve played for years and years in the CAA,” Beilein said. “It may backfire and they may be so good offensively and defensively that we can’t beat them, but at the same time we’re going to play a team that we haven’t seen before and everybody is fresh.”
The Mountaineers are making back-to-back NCAA appearances for the first time since 1986 and 1987.
It is the 20th overall NCAA appearance for West Virginia.
Beilein said his staff will begin preparing immediately for Southern Illinois and he will begin watching tapes of Saluki games tomorrow.
“We’ve been taping everything that goes up in the air right now so my hope is that we will have at least two and then we’ll get more (tapes) on the way,” Beilein said.
West Virginia joined Connecticut, Villanova, Syracuse, Pitt, Georgetown, Marquette and Seton Hall as Big East teams getting into this year’s NCAA tournament. The conference could have very easily had a ninth in Cincinnati.
“I think it is terrific but I’m personally disappointed that Cincinnati didn’t get in because they did play … I think I saw at one time the sixth-toughest schedule in the country,” Beilein said. “They did what the committee asked but I guess it just wasn’t quite enough.”
