Tough D
February 14, 2008 02:56 PM | General
February 13, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Count Pittsburgh’s Agnus Berenato among the believers. Pitt’s fifth-year coach spent 40 minutes watching her 18th-rated team get their nose hairs pulled out in a 21-point loss to West Virginia Wednesday night.
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| West Virginia's Olayinka Sanni tries to pounce on a loose ball during Wednesday night's 56-35 victory over Pittsburgh.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
The Panthers clanked 23 of their first 25 field goal tries and shot just 20.3 percent for the game. The Mountaineers had the Panthers covered all the way to the water fountain.
“We were missing inside, outside - we were missing everything,” Berenato said. “I don’t think you can just say we were having an off-night because you have to compliment West Virginia and I think West Virginia had something to do with those missed shots.”
Completely shutting teams down for long periods of time is becoming a common occurrence this year at the WVU Coliseum under Mike Carey, who has already steered West Virginia to its fourth 20-win season in the last five years.
No. 16 Notre Dame went through a miserable shooting performance against the Mountaineers a month ago, hitting 5 of its first 28 shots on the way to an 11-point first half. Notre Dame's foot-stomping coach Muffett McGraw wasn’t very chatty afterward.
“I thought that was about as bad as we have ever played in the first half,” she said.
Georgetown took its medicine three days later, scoring just 35 points and shooting 30 percent. The Hoyas were 6 of 22 in the second half for 27.3 percent and actually had eight more turnovers (23) than made field goals.
“You have to be able to score,” said Hoya coach Terri Williams-Flournoy. “You aren’t going to be able to hold a team to zero points, but you don’t score and that puts you in a bad position. We were down by nine and then we went zero for seven and then nine goes to 20 before you know it.”
Last year’s national runner-up Rutgers even had its difficulties getting good looks against West Virginia’s defense, hitting 33.3 percent of its field goal tries during the second half of a nine-point loss to the Mountaineers. Rutgers also had 19 turnovers and were beaten 34-30 on the glass.
Vivian Stringer paid West Virginia a tall compliment by calling the Mountaineers a “blue-collar version” of her Rutgers team. Stringer mentioned after the game that her team had great difficulty adjusting to West Virginia’s changing defenses.
“It took us 15 seconds just to bring up the ball – just to think that they were switching defenses and guess what, we don’t have a lot of time,” Stringer said. “I was disappointed in our team because we looked very tentative in all that we did.”
Fifteen times West Virginia has held opposing teams to 60 points or less and the Mountaineers rank second in the Big East in field goal percentage defense (34 percent) and third in points allowed per game (52.5 ppg.).
The frustration West Virginia causes with its defense actually helps its offense. Teams often lose focus on the defensive end because they can’t score and that opens up offensive opportunities for the Mountaineers. In its three most recent conference home wins over Georgetown, Rutgers and Pitt, West Virginia has outscored them in the second half by a combined 99-63.
“West Virginia is No. 11 in the country for a reason,” Berenato said. “They should be 7 or 8 because that’s where they should be. They are really, really good and I want everyone to know that."
This West Virginia defense is really four years in the making. Long before Bob Huggins came here talking about how defense keeps teams in games when nothing else is working, Mike Carey was saying the very same things. And this year's team has really taken on Carey’s intense, driven attitude.
The athleticism on the wings and the toughness in the paint, as well as the intelligence of a veteran team that has played together for four years now is really beginning to show up on the basketball court.
John Beilein’s men’s teams used to mesmerize fans and coaches with their precision offense. This year, Mike Carey’s women’s team is doing the same thing with defense. West Virginia is showing that stopping people can be an art form, too.
