Joyce Center: House of Horror
January 08, 2010 04:27 PM | General
(4:28 pm)
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| Notre Dame's Russell Carter drives on Alex Ruoff in this game at the Joyce Center in 2004.
ND Sports Information photo |
It has been almost 14 years since West Virginia last won a basketball game at the Joyce Center in Notre Dame, Ind. The year was 1996 and Bill Clinton was president.
Gale Catlett was coaching the Mountaineers; working the sidelines for the Fighting Irish was ex-pro coach John MacLeod.
Guard Cyrus Jones poured in 19 points and Damian Owens added 17 points and 12 rebounds to help West Virginia to a 69-59 victory. Pat Garrity led Notre Dame with 24 points and nine boards.
Neither team was good that year, West Virginia finished the season with a 12-15 record while Notre Dame was 9-18.
Since then it has been one bad moment after another for the Mountaineers in South Bend.
In the 1997, forward Gordon Malone was kicked out of the team huddle right before the game and wound up watching from the stands with his warm-ups on as the Mountaineers fell to the Irish 90-76.
In 2000, West Virginia jumped out to an early 17 point lead and led by six at halftime before the roof caved in. Matt Doherty’s Fighting Irish outscored West Virginia 44-24 in the second half for a relatively routine 79-65 victory.
In 2001, Chris Moss had a run-in with the Notre Dame students and the Irish ran away with a 78-61 victory.
And the end of Drew Schifino’s promising career at West Virginia also occurred at Notre Dame following a 63-52 loss to the Irish in 2004.
Added all up it’s nine straight losses for West Virginia at Notre Dame.
Weekly Word
Another outstanding win at Notre Dame occurred on Feb. 3, 1972 when the Mountaineers overcame a six-point deficit to defeat the Irish 97-87.
That was Digger Phelps’ first season at Notre Dame and the win came just two weeks after the tragic automobile accident that claimed the life of Larry Harris and the playing career of Sam Oglesby.
Moments of silence were observed at Davidson and George Washington for Harris, and Phelps offered to have a moment of silence before the West Virginia game, but WVU coach Sonny Moran thought another tribute would be too much for his team to handle.
“It was a fine gesture,” said Moran after the game, “but it had put us in a bad psychological state the two times before it was done that I asked them to forego it.”
It was West Virginia’s first ever victory at Notre Dame after four previous unsuccessful attempts.
Wil Robinson scored 39 points and reserves Chris Sprenger and Mike Carson stepped up and had big performances, combining to score 18 points and grab seven rebounds.
Bob Huggins, who was sitting out that year after transferring from Ohio, remembered that game. He also recalled a game in 1978 when he was a graduate assistant coach on Joedy Gardner’s staff when the Mountaineers couldn’t get out of South Bend.
“We were snowed in there for three days,” Huggins said. “That was a bad one. Dr. (Leland) Byrd was on that trip, too.”
West Virginia is 14-1 for the first time in school history and is coming off a pair of outstanding wins at St. John’s last Saturday and against No. 22 Pitt on Tuesday night in Morgantown. Ninth-year coach Mike Carey says he really likes the chemistry on this year’s team.
The DePaul game is a Dairy Mart Dollar Day, meaning you can stop by any local Dairy Mart to get a $1 coupon for admission for Saturday’s game.
“I like to be a nice guy but, hell, I’ve got to jump on them because they won’t shoot it,” Carey said after Tuesday’s game. “Normally, you’ve got to jump them because they will shoot it all of the time. This team is very unselfish.”
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| Korinne Campbell |
“In the Big Ten the girls are a lot thicker,” Campbell said. “They are bigger. I would have to say the Big East is a lot faster. When I first got here the running was a lot more. I lost weight a lot faster.”
“I used to watch Bobby Knight’s Indiana teams and their motion and say that was the hardest thing to guard – and it is, but West Virginia takes that to another level,” Hill said. “Indiana maybe had three players that were very skilled and two guys that would go set screens. Every player for West Virginia that starts can play any one of those positions.”
One name already being mentioned is former WVU offensive coordinator Calvin Magee, who worked on Leavitt’s staff before coming to West Virginia.
Consider where South Florida is situated, I would guess the Bulls could attract an impressive list of prospective coaching candidates.
Rushers
1. Dion Lewis, Pitt, 1,799
2. Noel Devine, West Virginia, 1,465
3. Jordan Todman, Connecticut, 1,188
Passers
1. Tom Savage, Rutgers, 2,211
2. B.J. Daniels, USF, 1,983
3. Zach Collaros, Cincinnati, 1,434
Receivers
1. Jonathan Baldwin, Pitt, 1,111
2. Armon Binns, Cincinnati, 888
3. Carlton Mitchell, USF, 706
Berenato and two of her players came into the media room after a tough loss to the Mountaineers and individually introduced themselves to each person in the room. Then following her press conference, Berenato thanked everyone in the room for their interest in women’s basketball.
I can see where cynics would cast a wary eye on Berenato’s approach, but I thought it was a nice touch, even when she referred to West Virginia guard Liz Repella as a “friggin baller.”
Howley lettered in five sports at West Virginia: football, wrestling, track, gymnastics and swimming. He went on to become an all-pro performer for the Dallas Cowboys as a member of the famed “Doomsday Defense.”
Here is the listed of ranked men’s basketball foes since 2008:
Here is a link to Van Zant’s obituary from the Williamson News: http://www.williamsondailynews.com/pages/full_story/push?article-Well-known+Williamson+citizen+dies+at+81%20&id=5385542&instance=secondary_news_left_column
Our condolences go out to the Van Zant family.
But with Vince Belnome, Justin Parks and Austin Markel no longer hitting around Gyorko, Van Zant is concerned that Gyorko will see fewer good pitches to hit. Batting Gyorko in the leadoff spot eliminates that possibility while also giving Gyorko additional at bats.
The late Dale Ramsburg often used his best hitter in the leadoff spot for that very reason.
Gyorko was recently named Big East preseason player of the year. West Virginia was predicted to finish sixth in the 12-team league and will begin practicing later this month.
Have a great weekend!
