Bombs Away!
March 27, 2007 10:19 PM | General
March 27, 2007
BOX SCORE | PHOTO GALLERY | PODCAST
NEW YORK – This time Darris Nichols decided to make the game-winning shot with no time left on the clock for the other team.
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| Darris Nichols drives to the basket for two of his team-high 17 points in West Virginia's 63-62 win over Mississippi State in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
All-Pro Photography Dale Sparks |
The junior’s 3-point basket as the clock expired gave West Virginia a 63-62, come-from-behind victory over Mississippi State in the semifinals of the National Invitation Tournament Tuesday night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The last time in New York City in the Big East tournament quarterfinals against Louisville, Nichols’ late driving basket gave WVU a lead it could not hold onto in a loss to the Cardinals that knocked the Mountaineers out of the NCAA tournament.
“That was very similar to our Louisville game when the ball didn’t bounce our way late – this time it certainly did,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein.
Those two plays provided the backdrop for West Virginia’s first run to the NIT championship game in 65 years.
“If anybody would be disappointed playing in the NIT they would be absolutely crazy,” said Beilein. “That was a great basketball game, a great atmosphere and I’m so proud of all of our team for how we hung in there.”
Before the Nichols miracle, the Mountaineers (26-9) had missed five tries to take the lead before the ball bounced off a Mississippi State player out of bounds underneath West Virginia’s basket with 2.1 seconds remaining. Following a Beilein timeout, Nichols jumped out to the right behind the 3-point arc where he received the inbound pass from Alex Ruoff. Catching the ball and shooting in one motion, the junior got off a fade-away rainbow that sailed through the net just as the clock ran down to zero.
“I stepped back a little bit – I didn’t know where I was at on the floor but I knew we needed a 3 to win it,” Nichols said.
“We would take a 2 but we wanted to win the game. When we came out of that huddle I told them, ‘If it’s not there we don’t have to drive if we don’t have the 3.’ Obviously we put our two best (Nichols and Frank Young) were running those corners,” said Beilein. “The first option was Darris and the second one would have been Frank. We felt good about either one and give Alex credit for the pass there.”
Afterward, officials went to the monitor to determine if Mississippi State had any time remaining before determining that the clock had indeed expired.
“I was just hoping that the officials would walk into their dressing room,” said Beilein. “We were preparing our team for .01 and a tap in. I never really thought the 3 was in question.”
“I was so happy that Darris hit that shot,” added Young. “I was so excited that he almost made me cry for extending my career one more game.”
It was stunning ending for Mississippi State team that seemed to be in total control of the game. The Bulldogs used a 12-2 run at the beginning of the second half to take a 14-point, 44-30, lead with 15:32 remaining after a Dietric Slater 3.
Nichols answered with a three-point play to cut it to 11, and a Frank Young 3 from the corner trimmed State’s lead to nine with 12:14 left.
A garbage basket by Rob Summers made it 48-41 and free throws by Ruoff, Jamie Smalligan and Da’Sean Butler got the lead down to four, 50-46, with 8:43 remaining.
A Nichols 3 at the top of the key at the 8:23 mark made it a one-point game, 50-49.
West Virginia eventually grabbed the lead with 53.7 seconds left when Smalligan was fouled on a 3-point try, converting two of his three free throws to make it 60-59, West Virginia.
Barry Stewart answered for the Bulldogs, nailing a tough running jump shot with 16 seconds left to put the Bulldogs up two.
There were several signs in the first half that things were going to be difficult for West Virginia, now 26-9. One, the Mountaineers got to the bonus with 7:57 remaining in the first half and still managed to get out-shot at the free-throw line 7 to 4.
Two, Nichols picked up his second foul with 5:28 remaining and Beilein chose to sit him on the bench for the remainder of the half. Three, the Mountaineers went 4 for 18 shooting for the rest of the half after starting the game 6 of 9.
And four, West Virginia committed eight turnovers against Mississippi State’s trapping defense and that helped the Bulldogs erase an early 19-12 Mountaineer lead.
A Barry Stewart 3 from the wing gave Mississippi State its first lead of the game, 27-25, with 2:51 remaining in the first half and the Bulldogs led by five, 30-25, after a Ben Hansbrough free throw.
Trailing 30-28 with an opportunity to tie the game at the end of the half, Joe Mazzulla’s driving lay-up try was rejected by Jarvis Varnado. The ball wound up in Dietric Slater’s hands and he drove the length of the court for a basket to put Mississippi State up four, 32-28, at the break.
“I thought we competed,” said Beilein. “We had several breaks not go our way at the end of the first half. We had a terrific point guard in foul trouble and we had three freshmen in the lineup. We lost a little bit of that consistency that we had at the midpoint of the first half.”
Nichols finished the game with 17 points on 7 of 13 shooting. Young added 16 but managed just five in the second half. Ruoff contributed 10 – mostly on drives to the basket.
The Mountaineers were only 7 of 23 from 3-point distance for 30.4 percent and finished the game 23 of 63 overall for 36.5 percent.
A key statistic in the game was West Virginia holding its own against the Bulldogs on the glass, managing 41 rebounds to Mississippi State’s 38. Fourteen of WVU's boards were offensive.
Slater led Mississippi State (21-14) with a game-high 18 points; Gordon scored 11 and Rhodes finished with 10. The Bulldogs were 23 of 56 for 41 percent including 7 of 19 from 3 for 37 percent.
“Mississippi State had a great year; they’ve got a great coach and great players and either team was certainly capable of winning that game,” said Beilein.
It was the seventh time in eight tries this year that Mississippi State has lost a game that was decided by four points or less.
West Virginia advances to the NIT championship game for the first time since the Mountaineers won the tournament in 1942.
WVU will meet the winner of the Air Force-Clemson game in the NIT championship game on Thursday night at 7 pm.
