West Virginia 87, Providence 84
February 05, 2012 03:30 PM | General
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Truck Bryant’s 3 at the top of the key with 3.3 seconds left in overtime lifted West Virginia to an 87-84 come-from-behind win over Providence at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., Sunday afternoon.
Bryant made nine of 14 from the floor in the second half and 11 of 22 overall to finish with a game-high 32. Deniz Kilicli added a career-high 22 and Kevin Jones finished with 20, although he struggled from the floor this afternoon hitting just eight of his 19 shot attempts.
“We didn’t play particularly well and we were able to win,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “That was probably the worst game KJ has had, in all honesty, since Mississippi State and somehow we are able to figure out a way to win.”
At the outset, the game looked like a carbon copy of the St. John’s loss twelve days ago when the Johnnies were making layup after layup in a 16-point victory. Providence made 14 of its first 16 shot attempts and built an early 15-point lead, but West Virginia chipped away, getting it down to three before Bryce Cotton nailed a 3 at the buzzer to put the Friars up by six, 42-36.
“I told them in the first half, let’s just get it manageable,” said Huggins. “We were down 15 and we get it back to six and that’s with them making a 3 at the end of the half. Then we come out at the start of the second half and it was just awful.”
Providence (13-11, 2-9) again built its lead to double digits at 49-39 before a Bryant 3 stopped the run. Another jumper by Bryant trimmed Providence’s lead to five, 49-44, and later, a traditional three-point play by Bryant reduced the Friars lead to two, 53-51.
A Kilicli layup with 3:30 left got West Virginia’s deficit to one, 71-70, and after a Providence free throw, Kilicli tied the game at 72 with another one close to the basket.
Gerard Coleman, who finished with 30, hit a jumper with 1:10 left to put Providence ahead, 74-72, and Vincent Council made one of two from the line with 31 seconds left to give the Friars a three-point advantage.
Jones was able to score inside to make it 75-74, Providence, and after Coleman could only hit one of two, Bryant quickly scored going to the basket to tie the game at 76.
Providence had a chance to win the game in regulation but Council missed a 3 from the wing.
“I thought once we got it to overtime our guys felt really good about being able to win the game,” said Huggins.
In overtime, the Mountaineers got four points from Kilicli, including a close jumper with 1:31 left to take an 84-83 lead. Coleman could only hit one of two from the line with 11 seconds left, setting up Bryant’s game-winning shot from the top of the key off a screen from Kilicli.
“I thought Deniz in the second half was what we wanted Deniz to be,” said Huggins. “I think the biggest positive that we can take from this was Truck was dreadful in the first half shooting the ball and I think in the past he would have remained that way. He came out with a lot of confidence and started making shots for us.”
Huggins said he wanted Bryant isolated on Providence’s center on the last possession of overtime.
“At the end, I wanted Deniz to screen rather than KJ because I was afraid they’d switch that because KJ’s guy was smaller and I’d rather have Truck against their center off the bounce,” Huggins said. “Everything kind of came together.”
West Virginia (16-8, 6-5) shot 47.1 percent overall and made eight of 25 from behind the arc. Providence shot 50.9 percent and was nine of 17 from 3. The Friars were 19 of 26 from the free throw line, but critical misses late allowed the Mountaineers to stick around.
Today’s game was the fifth overtime game for West Virginia, the Mountaineers beating Kansas State, Missouri State, Cincinnati and Providence and losing to Baylor.
Jones, despite his poor shooting performance, was able to extend his consecutive streak of 20 point games to nine.
Freshman LaDontae Henton had 17 and Council finished with 16 for Providence.
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum to face streaking Notre Dame on Wednesday night in a 9 p.m. game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
“Hopefully this game will get us back on track and back where we’ve got to go because I think everyone knows how hard our schedule is down the stretch with Notre Dame on Wednesday and Louisville on Saturday,” said Huggins.
There are still tickets remaining for that game and they can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
Truck Bryant’s 3 at the top of the key with 3.3 seconds left in overtime lifted West Virginia to an 87-84 come-from-behind win over Providence at the Dunkin’ Donuts Center in Providence, R.I., Sunday afternoon.
Bryant made nine of 14 from the floor in the second half and 11 of 22 overall to finish with a game-high 32. Deniz Kilicli added a career-high 22 and Kevin Jones finished with 20, although he struggled from the floor this afternoon hitting just eight of his 19 shot attempts.
“We didn’t play particularly well and we were able to win,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “That was probably the worst game KJ has had, in all honesty, since Mississippi State and somehow we are able to figure out a way to win.”
At the outset, the game looked like a carbon copy of the St. John’s loss twelve days ago when the Johnnies were making layup after layup in a 16-point victory. Providence made 14 of its first 16 shot attempts and built an early 15-point lead, but West Virginia chipped away, getting it down to three before Bryce Cotton nailed a 3 at the buzzer to put the Friars up by six, 42-36.
“I told them in the first half, let’s just get it manageable,” said Huggins. “We were down 15 and we get it back to six and that’s with them making a 3 at the end of the half. Then we come out at the start of the second half and it was just awful.”
Providence (13-11, 2-9) again built its lead to double digits at 49-39 before a Bryant 3 stopped the run. Another jumper by Bryant trimmed Providence’s lead to five, 49-44, and later, a traditional three-point play by Bryant reduced the Friars lead to two, 53-51.
A Kilicli layup with 3:30 left got West Virginia’s deficit to one, 71-70, and after a Providence free throw, Kilicli tied the game at 72 with another one close to the basket.
Gerard Coleman, who finished with 30, hit a jumper with 1:10 left to put Providence ahead, 74-72, and Vincent Council made one of two from the line with 31 seconds left to give the Friars a three-point advantage.
Jones was able to score inside to make it 75-74, Providence, and after Coleman could only hit one of two, Bryant quickly scored going to the basket to tie the game at 76.
Providence had a chance to win the game in regulation but Council missed a 3 from the wing.
“I thought once we got it to overtime our guys felt really good about being able to win the game,” said Huggins.
In overtime, the Mountaineers got four points from Kilicli, including a close jumper with 1:31 left to take an 84-83 lead. Coleman could only hit one of two from the line with 11 seconds left, setting up Bryant’s game-winning shot from the top of the key off a screen from Kilicli.
“I thought Deniz in the second half was what we wanted Deniz to be,” said Huggins. “I think the biggest positive that we can take from this was Truck was dreadful in the first half shooting the ball and I think in the past he would have remained that way. He came out with a lot of confidence and started making shots for us.”
Huggins said he wanted Bryant isolated on Providence’s center on the last possession of overtime.
“At the end, I wanted Deniz to screen rather than KJ because I was afraid they’d switch that because KJ’s guy was smaller and I’d rather have Truck against their center off the bounce,” Huggins said. “Everything kind of came together.”
West Virginia (16-8, 6-5) shot 47.1 percent overall and made eight of 25 from behind the arc. Providence shot 50.9 percent and was nine of 17 from 3. The Friars were 19 of 26 from the free throw line, but critical misses late allowed the Mountaineers to stick around.
Today’s game was the fifth overtime game for West Virginia, the Mountaineers beating Kansas State, Missouri State, Cincinnati and Providence and losing to Baylor.
Jones, despite his poor shooting performance, was able to extend his consecutive streak of 20 point games to nine.
Freshman LaDontae Henton had 17 and Council finished with 16 for Providence.
West Virginia returns to the Coliseum to face streaking Notre Dame on Wednesday night in a 9 p.m. game that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
“Hopefully this game will get us back on track and back where we’ve got to go because I think everyone knows how hard our schedule is down the stretch with Notre Dame on Wednesday and Louisville on Saturday,” said Huggins.
There are still tickets remaining for that game and they can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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