Men's Basketball: Villanova Cruises
February 20, 2008 10:49 PM | General
February 20, 2008
BOX SCORE
VILLANOVA, Pa. – Dwayne Anderson scored 17 points including making 5 of 7 from 3-point distance to lead Villanova to a 78-56 victory over West Virginia Wednesday night at the Pavilion.
“They wanted it more than we did,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We had a great walkthrough today. I thought we were ready to play and then (Villanova) came out and I had not seen them play that physical on tape.”
Villanova scored the first eight points of the game and led the Mountaineers by 24 at halftime.
“Their first eight points … a 3 in transition when we were not even close to getting back, another basket in transition and another that could have been a basket but Darris (Nichols) makes a heck of a play because a couple of our guys didn’t get back …,” Huggins said.
The Mountaineers missed their first 11 3-point field goal ties and made just 9 of 27 overall in the first half. West Virginia’s marksmanship didn’t get much better in the second half with the Mountaineers finishing the game 21 of 59 for 35.6 percent. WVU was 2 of 20 from behind the arc.
“I’m afraid our whole self-worth sometimes is wrapped up in whether or not we make jump shots,” Huggins said.
West Virginia (18-8, 7-6) was looking for a nice road victory to enhance its NCAA tournament resume. Instead it suffered its second 20-point loss to an unranked team this year. At one point the Wildcats were leading by 30 and the student section was chanting “warm up the bus.”
Two moments in the second half were indicative of the way things were going for West Virginia tonight. On one play Villanova forward Dante Cunningham pushed Da’Sean Butler two rows into the seats to make room for an uncontested two points under the basket on an inbound play with five seconds on the shot clock.
A few minutes later, Antonio Pena stumbled down the lane and was fouled by Joe Alexander with one second on the shot clock while throwing up a wild shot at the rim. Instead of a turnover it was two points for Villanova at the foul line. Of course the game was already decided by this point anyway.
“This is my fault because I’m in charge and we’ve got to find a way to fix it,” Huggins said.
Corey Stokes came off the bench to score 16 and Pena contributed 10 for Villanova, now 16-9, 6-7. Villanova finished 24 of 51 overall from the floor for 47 percent and made 10 of 23 from 3 for 43.5 percent. The Wildcats also cashed in at the free throw line by making 20 of 23.
“They try to spread you and they run these crosses,” Huggins said. “Well we were just going to switch them. We have two guys guarding one and that leaves the other guy wide open for a 3.
“They really wanted the game more than we did and it was just as evident as can be,” Huggins said.
Backup guard Joe Mazzulla played most of the second half and finished with 11 points to lead the Mountaineers. Joe Alexander also scored 11 and Da’Sean Butler contributed 10.
Wellington Smith scored 8 points and grabbed seven rebounds coming off the bench.
“I thought we got really good shots today,” Huggins said. “I don’t really remember a lot of forces. When your starters are 3 for 10, 5 for 10, 0 for 2, 2 for 8 and 2 for 9 as compared to 3 for 5, 5 for 8, 4 for 6 and 2 for 4, you can’t win.
“In 800 some games I’ve coached this doesn’t happen to us because we compete so hard. We started the game giving up baskets in transition, I took those guys out, and they ended the game giving baskets in transition,” Huggins said.
West Virginia returns to action on Saturday night facing Providence in a critical conference game at the WVU Coliseum. The contest will tip off at 7 pm following the WVU women’s game against Villanova at 4 pm.
“I told the team afterward your choices are really this: you can sit around here and feel sorry for yourself because it’s our fault, or we can try and do something about it on Saturday. And then try and do something about it next week.”
