WVU Gets Big Win at Georgetown
January 08, 2011 02:15 PM | General
WASHINGTON, D.C. - West Virginia let one slip away at home losing 81-71 to St. John’s on Dec. 29. Well, the Mountaineers got it back this afternoon at Georgetown, beating the 13th-ranked Hoyas 65-59 behind Casey Mitchell’s game-high 28 points.
Mitchell made 10 of 19 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3, scoring nine in a row during one stretch in the second half to help the Mountaineers take a six point lead, 40-34.
“He was active,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “I wore him out yesterday (in practice) because he just didn’t make hard cuts. He didn’t set people up and he just didn’t do what good players do. He wanted the ball today. I think he did a better job of using screens; his cuts were so much harder and he played a lot of minutes.”
Today’s game was one of runs by both teams. West Virginia used an 8-2 run at the end of the first half to take a 29-25 lead into the locker room. At the beginning of the second half, Georgetown scored the first seven points to take a 32-29 lead and force Huggins to take a time out.
The Mountaineers’ 12-2 run that got their lead to seven was then followed by a six-minute stretch when they didn’t make a field goal, surviving on free throws by Kevin Jones and Joe Mazzulla. West Virginia closed out the game by scoring all six of its remaining points at the line over the final 6:51.
Georgetown, too, had trouble finding the basket down the stretch. The nation’s No. 2-ranked field goal shooting team made just two field goals during the final 7:55 – both coming on Jason Clark layups – and the Hoyas were only able to get off one shot attempt over the last 2:35. Four of Georgetown’s final five possessions ended with turnovers.
Huggins thought the key play of the game came with 6:51 left when Jones stepped out and nailed a 3 to give the Mountaineers a 55-52 lead.
“We ran kind of a lob deal that I didn’t think we were going to get because we ran it against them a bunch, but KJ could step out and get a pretty good look and fortunately he made it,” said Huggins. “I thought that was huge. That was a big morale booster for us because they had made a comeback.”
Huggins explained his thinking on running that particular play at that point in the game.
“We tried to run a lob for Mazzulla like the lob we ran for Jonnie West against Cleveland State, and I told Cam (Thoroughman) don’t force it if it’s not there,” he explained. “If the big drops back let KJ step back out and shoot it and if that didn’t work we were going to stagger for Casey. I really thought they would try and jam that back in there. We ran it when Jamie (Smalligan) was here and Jamie got a couple of 3s out of it.
“KJ was playing with so much confidence I thought he’d shoot it in.” He did.
West Virginia got after Georgetown on the glass, taking advantage of the Hoyas’ three-guard lineup to outrebound them 32-23. Jones pulled down a team-high eight rebounds with five of those coming on the offensive end. West Virginia was credited with 15 offensive rebounds for the game.
The Mountaineers also had eight more field goal attempts and 13 more opportunities at the free throw line, where they made 17 out of 24 for the game.
“When we get to the foul line we put pressure on the rim,” said Huggins. “Joe put some pressure on the rim. KJ did so by rebounding the ball. That was kind of what we won with. I told them, ‘Fellas the reason we won the game is because we shoot 52 times and they shoot 44. We shoot 24 free throws and they shoot 11.’ We just had so many more possessions.”
Jones added 15 points and Bryant contributed 9.
West Virginia overcame a sluggish shooting start to finish the game 21-of-52 shooting for 40.4%. Huggins played only eight players, using Mazzulla, Danny Jennings and Thoroughman off the bench.
“That’s without a question the best we’ve team-defended all year,” Huggins noted. “I thought it was the best we shared the ball. Our execution I thought was a whole lot better, other than when we started the second half.”
Georgetown, now 12-4, 1-3, got 16 from Clark and just 11 from Austin Freeman – seven below his season average. The Hoyas had 18 turnovers.
“They’re good,” said Huggins of Georgetown. “I was walking in with one of the security guys (to do his postgame radio show) and I said, ‘Tell me another league in America where Georgetown starts their conference season 1-3?’ It doesn’t happen. Those three perimeter guys are outstanding. I think they’re the best three perimeter guys in the country.”
The victory was West Virginia’s fourth in a row over Georgetown and also the fourth straight at the Verizon Center, where the Mountaineers knocked off Arizona and Duke in the 2008 NCAA tournament. It was also the first win over a nationally ranked team for West Virginia this season.
“We needed a good win and this is a good win,” added Huggins. “When you sit down and look at it you beat Georgetown at Georgetown – that’s better than beating Georgetown at home. And we’ve got a lot more opportunities coming up here.”
West Virginia (10-4, 2-2) returns to the Coliseum to face Providence for a Thursday night game that will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
Mitchell made 10 of 19 from the floor, including 4 of 7 from 3, scoring nine in a row during one stretch in the second half to help the Mountaineers take a six point lead, 40-34.
“He was active,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “I wore him out yesterday (in practice) because he just didn’t make hard cuts. He didn’t set people up and he just didn’t do what good players do. He wanted the ball today. I think he did a better job of using screens; his cuts were so much harder and he played a lot of minutes.”
Today’s game was one of runs by both teams. West Virginia used an 8-2 run at the end of the first half to take a 29-25 lead into the locker room. At the beginning of the second half, Georgetown scored the first seven points to take a 32-29 lead and force Huggins to take a time out.
The Mountaineers’ 12-2 run that got their lead to seven was then followed by a six-minute stretch when they didn’t make a field goal, surviving on free throws by Kevin Jones and Joe Mazzulla. West Virginia closed out the game by scoring all six of its remaining points at the line over the final 6:51.
Georgetown, too, had trouble finding the basket down the stretch. The nation’s No. 2-ranked field goal shooting team made just two field goals during the final 7:55 – both coming on Jason Clark layups – and the Hoyas were only able to get off one shot attempt over the last 2:35. Four of Georgetown’s final five possessions ended with turnovers.
Huggins thought the key play of the game came with 6:51 left when Jones stepped out and nailed a 3 to give the Mountaineers a 55-52 lead.
“We ran kind of a lob deal that I didn’t think we were going to get because we ran it against them a bunch, but KJ could step out and get a pretty good look and fortunately he made it,” said Huggins. “I thought that was huge. That was a big morale booster for us because they had made a comeback.”
Huggins explained his thinking on running that particular play at that point in the game.
“We tried to run a lob for Mazzulla like the lob we ran for Jonnie West against Cleveland State, and I told Cam (Thoroughman) don’t force it if it’s not there,” he explained. “If the big drops back let KJ step back out and shoot it and if that didn’t work we were going to stagger for Casey. I really thought they would try and jam that back in there. We ran it when Jamie (Smalligan) was here and Jamie got a couple of 3s out of it.
“KJ was playing with so much confidence I thought he’d shoot it in.” He did.
West Virginia got after Georgetown on the glass, taking advantage of the Hoyas’ three-guard lineup to outrebound them 32-23. Jones pulled down a team-high eight rebounds with five of those coming on the offensive end. West Virginia was credited with 15 offensive rebounds for the game.
The Mountaineers also had eight more field goal attempts and 13 more opportunities at the free throw line, where they made 17 out of 24 for the game.
“When we get to the foul line we put pressure on the rim,” said Huggins. “Joe put some pressure on the rim. KJ did so by rebounding the ball. That was kind of what we won with. I told them, ‘Fellas the reason we won the game is because we shoot 52 times and they shoot 44. We shoot 24 free throws and they shoot 11.’ We just had so many more possessions.”
Jones added 15 points and Bryant contributed 9.
West Virginia overcame a sluggish shooting start to finish the game 21-of-52 shooting for 40.4%. Huggins played only eight players, using Mazzulla, Danny Jennings and Thoroughman off the bench.
“That’s without a question the best we’ve team-defended all year,” Huggins noted. “I thought it was the best we shared the ball. Our execution I thought was a whole lot better, other than when we started the second half.”
Georgetown, now 12-4, 1-3, got 16 from Clark and just 11 from Austin Freeman – seven below his season average. The Hoyas had 18 turnovers.
“They’re good,” said Huggins of Georgetown. “I was walking in with one of the security guys (to do his postgame radio show) and I said, ‘Tell me another league in America where Georgetown starts their conference season 1-3?’ It doesn’t happen. Those three perimeter guys are outstanding. I think they’re the best three perimeter guys in the country.”
The victory was West Virginia’s fourth in a row over Georgetown and also the fourth straight at the Verizon Center, where the Mountaineers knocked off Arizona and Duke in the 2008 NCAA tournament. It was also the first win over a nationally ranked team for West Virginia this season.
“We needed a good win and this is a good win,” added Huggins. “When you sit down and look at it you beat Georgetown at Georgetown – that’s better than beating Georgetown at home. And we’ve got a lot more opportunities coming up here.”
West Virginia (10-4, 2-2) returns to the Coliseum to face Providence for a Thursday night game that will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
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