MSNsportsNET Rewind
March 14, 2007 03:23 PM | General
March 13, 2007
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (Jan. 27, 1995) – West Virginia and Massachusetts played many memorable games when the Mountaineers were members of the Atlantic 10 Conference, but none can match the last time these two schools met at the WVU Coliseum on Jan. 27, 1995.
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| West Virginia guard Cyrus Jones drives in for two of his 21 points against No. 1-ranked Massachusetts. The Mountaineers lost the game 97-94 in overtime on Jan. 27, 1995.
WVU Sports Communications photo |
West Virginia, at the time only 8-7, was a mere seconds away from upsetting the No. 1-ranked team in the country. Coach John Calipari’s Minutemen had a 14-1 record heading into Morgantown, UMass owning impressive victories over No. 1 Arkansas, No. 11 Maryland and No. 25 Penn, and just one loss at No. 7 Kansas.
In an earlier meeting in Amherst, UMass drilled West Virginia 95-65 in a game that was never close. The Minutemen blocked 20 West Virginia shots, coming one block short of the NCAA record of 21. The Mountaineers made just 18 of 74 shots for 24.3 percent.
“It would take almost a perfect game for us to have a chance to win,” said West Virginia coach Gale Catlett a day before the game.
Catlett's young team nearly played the perfect game.
West Virginia led 45-37 at halftime and a super-charged crowd of 13,862 was sensing one of the biggest upset victories in school history.
The Mountaineers used a 13-0 tear to take an 18-6 early lead and they regained their 12-point advantage at 49-37 at the start of the second half on consecutive field goals by Zain Shaw and Seldon Jefferson.
A Damian Owens lay up and five straight points from Seldon Jefferson gave West Virginia a 15-point, 72-57 lead with 9:17 remaining. A minute later Shaw’s jump shot gave the Mountaineers a 17-point lead. The bulge swelled to 18 points at 80-62 on a Jefferson basket with 4:48 left in the game.
All West Virginia had to do was run the clock, hold onto the basketball and get a few stops and the game was over.
“It was incredible,” said Calipari. “Down 18 and I told the guys to go out and have some fun.”
UMass responded with a full-court trapping press that resulted in 12 straight points in a span of two minutes to reduce West Virginia’s lead to six, 80-74, with 2:51 left.
“I thought when we went ahead by 16 or 18, we were going to win,” Catlett said. “I took that one time out because we were tired. I wanted to give us a little rest. I didn’t want to change our rotation or change people. We came out and they hit three or four or five in a row: I don’t know what happened.”
Mike Williams’ 3-point shot cut West Virginia’s lead in half to three, and after a pair of Brent Solheim free throws, Edgar Padilla hit another 3-pointer to make it a two-point game.
Cyrus Jones could have put the game away with 14.1 seconds left. He was fouled on the way to the basket but was unable to convert the three-point play. Williams was fouled attempting a 3-point field goal with 9.1 seconds left and made the first two. His third try was tipped in by Dana Dingle just ahead of the buzzer to send the game into overtime with the score knotted at 86. Both Dingle and freshman forward Damian Owens were fighting for the ball and Owens actually had his hand on it before the ball circled the rim and went in.
“We both got a hand on it,” Owens said.
There were four ties at 88, 90, 92 and 94 in the overtime before Williams nailed his second 3-pointer with 16.5 seconds left. Jefferson and Jones had open 3-point looks at the other end but were unable to connect.
“I’m very proud of our guys but I’m extremely disappointed,” Catlett said after the game. “I thought we were going to win the game. They played their hearts out and deserved to win.
“But Massachusetts found a way to win against a cranked-up team, and I guess that’s why they’re No. 1. Give them credit. We took them to the wire. That’s just the way it goes sometimes,” Catlett said.
Both teams combined to turn the ball over 53 times – West Virginia committing a season-high 28 turnovers.
“I don’t know how we did it,” said UMass forward Lou Roe. “That has to be a sign of a great team coming back from 18 with (five) minutes left. I knew we’d make a run at them, but I didn’t know it would be this big.”
UMass scored 24 of the final 30 points in regulation.
Roe was a handful for West Virginia, the 6-7 forward scoring a game-high 25 points and grabbing seven rebounds. Donta Bright had 17 points and eight rebounds while Williams finished with 16.
“When the game is on the line I want to go to Mike Williams,” Calipari said.
Marcus Camby scored 14 points, grabbed eight rebounds and blocked three shots.
Zain Shaw (23), Seldon Jefferson (22) and Cyrus Jones (21) combined to score 66 of West Virginia’s 94 points. Owens contributed 12 points and seven rebounds.
Jefferson played the game with a groin injury suffered in practice two days earlier.
“He played on guts,” Catlett said.
The Mountaineers finished the game 36 of 70 for 51.4 percent. Massachusetts was just as effective, hitting 40 of 77 for 51.9 percent. UMass had a slight 43-39 edge on the glass.
“WVU sold out this building and it’s unfortunate that someone had to lose,” Calipari said. “We just refused to lose.”
It was one of the biggest comebacks in the 25-year history of the WVU Coliseum. Catlett was criticized afterward for not taking the air out of the ball and using more of the shot clock. But the veteran coach said afterward that he was not conservative and would never be, believing his team’s best chance to win the game was by attacking the basket.
“We were always trying to attack the goal,” Catlett said afterward. “I guess if I looked back at anything, we would probably go back to the big lead and maybe a more conservative coach would conserve the clock. I don’t do that: I’ve never done that and I’m not going to do it now.
“If you don’t like it I don’t care. That’s the way I’m going to coach. I’ve coached that way. I coach to win. I coach to score points,” he said. “I think it’s exciting and that’s what we’re going to do.”
WVU showed its inexperience with some bad shots and fouling Mike Williams on a difficult 3-point field goal try wasn’t wise. West Virginia also failed to connect on a couple of critical free throw attempts down the stretch.
Despite that, Calipari was impressed with the Mountaineers.
“Let’s give them some credit,” Calipari said. “They took it to us.”
The 13,862 crowd was the largest to see a basketball game at the WVU Coliseum in 12 years.
Massachusetts 97
Bright 8-16 1-2, 17, Roe 9-17 7-9 25, Camby 6-9 2-6 14, Williams 6-13 2-3 16, Traviseo 1-6 0-2 2, Norville 0-1 2-2 2, Nunez 0-0 0-0 0, Padilla 3-5 0-0 7, Kellogg 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 40-77 14-24 97
West Virginia 94
Shaw 9-19 5-5 23, Owens 6-7 0-2 12, Solheim 1-4 6-6 8, Jefferson 9-19 2-2 22, Jones 8-15 1-3 21, Agnew 0-2 0-0 0, Lamb 0-0 0-0 0, Wilson 1-1 1-2 3, West 2-3 0-0 5, Totals 36-70 15-20 94
Halftime – West Virginia 45, Massachusetts 37. End of Regulation – Massachusetts 86, West Virginia 86. 3-Point Field Goals – Massachusetts 3-13 (Williams 2-5, Padilla 1-3, Bright 0-1, Travieso 0-4). West Virginia 7-19 (Jones 4-9, Jefferson 2-6, West 1-1, Shaw 0-3). Fouled out – Camby, Solheim. Rebounds – Massachusetts 43 (Bright, Camby 8), West Virginia 39 (Shaw 10). Assists – Massachusetts 15 (Williams 4), West Virginia 12 (Jones 4). Turnovers – Massachusetts 25 (Williams 6), West Virginia 28 (Jones 9). Total Fouls – Massachusetts 21, West Virginia 22. A – 13,862.
