Movin On
March 07, 2007 09:06 PM | General
March 7, 2007
BOX SCORE
NEW YORK – West Virginia hit a Big East tournament record 17 3-point shots to defeat Providence, 92-79 Wednesday night in a first-round game at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
 |
||
| Providence's Herbert Hill (15) goes to the basket against West Virginia's Frank Young (21), Darris Nichols (14) and Rob Summers (33) during the first half of basketball action in the first round of the Big East conference tournament Wednesday, March 7, 2007 at Madison Square Garden in New York.
AP photo/Mary Altaffer |
“We’re all thrilled to be able to come in here on this stage and play the game that we did,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “We had very few mental lapses in the game and I’m very proud of the way we performed.”
Frank Young and Alex Ruoff each scored 21 points, combining to shoot 14 of 24 including 10 of 15 from 3-point distance. Overall, the Mountaineers were 17 of 31 from 3-point range shooting over Providence’s smaller backcourt and wings.
“When we shoot like that we’re a tough out,” said Beilein.
“We got hurt a little bit defensively because you are looking at match ups,” said Providence coach Tim Welsh. “You’ve got Dwain Williams guarding Ruoff and he’s 6-foot-6. You’ve got Weyinmi (Efejuku) guarding (Da’Sean) Butler and you’ve got Brian (McKenzie) guarding one of their big wings. Their size hurt us a little bit.”
The first time the Mountaineers played Providence they had trouble against the Friars’ 2-3 zone defense, choosing instead to shoot 3s making just 9 of 41. Tonight, West Virginia forced Providence to scrap the zone in the second half by getting big 3-point baskets and easy backdoor cuts to the hoop.
“They ended up going man and the last time we played them they were playing zone the entire time,” Beilein said. “We had one approach against the zone and one approach if they played man depending upon how they guarded us. We were basically trying to hit the open man.”
Providence led by seven twice in the first half before West Virginia used a 19-4 run over the remaining six minutes to take a 40-32 lead at the half.
West Virginia led by 15, 53-38, on a Ruoff backdoor lay up at 14:51. Providence used a 15-3 run over the next three minutes to close West Virginia’s lead to three, 56-53, on a Herbert Hill slam forcing Beilein to call timeout at 11:07.
“All of the sudden we had a few mental lapses and we had several at Providence and we kind of warped back to that time to where we became unglued,” Beilein said. “I just called the simplest of plays thinking we might pass it several times and get something. Darris Nichols knocked down a 3 and I think it just changed the game.”
Nichols’ huge 3 came from the top of the key to make it a six-point game, 59-53, and seldom-used freshman Wellington Smith converted a three-point play on a drive to the bucket to put West Virginia up by eight, 66-58.
“When you push it all the way back to three you’re hoping to keep it a basket game toward the end of the game and when it goes back to 10, I think you saw our shoulders droop a little bit where maybe we lost a little bit of our spark that we needed,” said Welsh.
Smith added a tip in with 7:21 remaining to keep the margin at six, and a key sequence came following the 7:13 media timeout. Ruoff drilled a 3 from the corner and then took a Butler steal and turned it into a reverse lay up, giving West Virginia a five-point swing in a span of 19 seconds. Nichols then knocked down another 3 from NBA distance to put West Virginia up, 76-62.
Smith had the dagger with WVU’s 17th 3 with 1:21 left to give the Mountaineers a 13-point lead. West Virginia was also 9 of 10 from the free throw line over the remaining 4:29.
Nichols was 5 of 8 shooting, including 4 of 6 from behind the arc for 16 points. The junior had a remarkable eight assists and no turnovers in 38 minutes of action.
“You can’t say enough about Darris Nichols -- he’s one of the best point guards in the country,” said Ruoff. “There are things that he does that don’t come down on the paper both defensively and offensively. I’m honored to play with him.”
Much like Frank Young did two years ago in the 2005 Big East tournament when he was a sophomore Wellington Smith gave West Virginia a big boost by scoring 10 points in 10 minutes. Smith was 3 of 4 shooting, made all three free throws, grabbed a rebound and made a steal.
“That was quite a performance from a kid from New Jersey to come in here and come off the bench when we’re in foul trouble and play the way that he ended up playing,” Beilein said. “He’s been patient all year, he had a great attitude all year; there were a lot of key players and he was one of them.”
West Virginia outscored Providence 22-11 in points off turnovers.
“If we were going down tonight we were going to go down with an attack mentality,” Beilein said.
Williams came off the bench to lead the Friars with 21 points on 5 of 7 shooting from 3. Hill scored 20 and Efejuku scored 19, although he was just 6 of 14 from the floor tonight.
Providence falls to 18-12 and is headed to the NIT.
It was a must-win situation for the Mountaineers, still very much on the NCAA tournament bubble. The win gives WVU a 22-8 record and sets up a quarterfinal game against No. 2 seeded Louisville Thursday night at 7 pm.
“I think the best idea for everyone in the country is to just keep on trying to win,” Beilein said of his team’s NCAA tournament chances. “I know the NCAA selection committee just does a terrific job but we just need to keep winning and not worry about any of that.”
All three higher seeds won today’s games with No. 6-seeded Marquette playing St. John’s in the late game.
