Vanderbilt Preview
March 24, 2008 10:30 AM | General
March 24, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Chakhia Cole got West Virginia into tonight’s NCAA Tournament second round game against No. 4 seeded Vanderbilt. If the Mountaineers are going to advance to the Sweet 16 for just the second time in school history, Cole is going to need a little more help from her teammates.
 |
||
| West Virginia coach Mike Carey answers questions during Sunday's news conference in Albuquerque, N.M.
Brian Persinger photo |
West Virginia (25-7) got 22 points and 11 rebounds from Cole including the game-winning 3-point basket with 17.5 seconds remaining in the game to defeat New Mexico, 61-60 Saturday night. Cole was 9 of 12 from the floor, handed out three assists and also blocked three shots.
Seniors Meg Bulger, Olayinka Sanni and LaQuita Owens were a combined 12 of 34 from the floor and Sanni managed to play just 20 minutes against the Lobos after getting into early foul trouble.
“I really believe that Yinka was prepared to play and was emotionally ready to play. I think she was just too hyped in the beginning,” said West Virginia coach Mike Carey. “The first two times she touched the ball she spun and went out of bounds. She didn’t know where she was on the floor and then she picked up two crazy fouls.”
West Virginia probably won’t have the home crowd against them tonight, but it is facing a better basketball team in 24-8 Vanderbilt from the SEC. The Commodores had little trouble getting past Montana in the first round, jumping out to a 45-22 first-half lead and cruising to a 75-47 victory.
Vanderbilt forced 22 Montana turnovers that it turned into 27 points of offense. No one played more than 30 minutes for Vanderbilt and Carey admits that could be a factor in tonight’s game.
“Sure you’d like to see them play 40 minutes but that didn’t happen,” Carey said.
Vanderbilt is a balanced team with five players averaging between 12.9 points and 8.6 points per game. Six-one junior forward Christina Wirth averages a team-best 12.9 points per game to go with 4.8 rebounds and 86 assists.
Six-four center Liz Sherwood comes off the bench to average 11 points and 4.3 rebounds per contest. Guard Jennifer Risper is the team’s leading rebounder averaging 6.3 boards per game.
“They play extremely hard. They’re very intelligent players; they play as a team,” Carey said. “They move the ball extremely well. They post extremely hard with their fours and fives against the zone and the man.
“We’re going to have to get physical with the fours and fives and we’re going to have to get ball pressure on the ball,” Carey added. “They have people that can drive and they have people that can hit the offensive boards – even their guards hit the offensive boards extremely hard.”
Carey says Vanderbilt prefers to play a match up zone but will also play man some as well.
“They play a lot of match up zone and out of the match up they’ll press you some and trap you some in the half court which creates turnovers,” he said. “Then they’ll set up in a 2-2-1 to try and take time off the clock and then they’ll either trap or fall back into the match up. They do a very good job of disguising what they’re in.
“Of the tapes I’ve seen they like to play the match up most and trap you out of the match up and extend full court out of the 2-2-1,” Carey said.
In the New Mexico game, West Virginia shot just 41.1 percent and committed 15 turnovers which led to 18 Lobo points. The Mountaineers were able to win the game with defense and Carey is hoping to get a little more offense to go with that tonight against Vanderbilt – particularly from all-Big East center Yinka Sanni, who finished with just 8 points.
“She’s going to have to stay a little bit more focused tonight and I think she will,” Carey said. “That’s going to be the key for us. We need Yinka to be able to defend their post when Sherwood comes in there.”
Tip off is scheduled for approximately 9:30 following the Pitt-Baylor game at 7 pm. MSN’s coverage begins at 9:20 with the pre-game show. Fans can follow the action on the Internet for free by signing up for CSTV All-Access.
ESPN2 will carry the game live.
