Mountaineers’ trip back to Big East Tournament a short one
NEW YORK-West Virginia earned an invitation to this year’s Big East Conference Tournament, but did not stay long for the party, as the Providence Friars ran through, over and around the Mountaineers, 73-50, in the first round game Wednesday afternoon at Madison Square Garden. “They were bigger, stronger, and faster than us, ” West Virginia head coach John Beilein said. “They got to more loose balls, rebounded better, and caused a lot of our turnovers, and we were not able to do a whole lot against their offensive put-backs.”
The Mountaineers committed 19 turnovers, many forced by the Friars’ trapping defense. West Virginia was also out-rebounded 43-27. Providence head coach Tim Welsh stressed the importance of rebounding with his team this week in practice.
“We made rebounding an emphasis coming into this week,” Welsh said. “We wanted to make sure we attacked the glass because we thought it could force an advantage in our fast break game.”
Both teams began the first half slowly as the Mountaineers held a 4-1 lead three minutes into the game. The Friars then woke up and opened up a double-digit lead on a Ryan Gomes dunk to push the score to 27-17.
“We did a lot of scouting for West Virginia this week in practice,” Gomes said. “Coach (Welsh) told me to hang around the baseline and the opportunities would come, and I was able to take advantage of a shorter player trying to guard me.”
Gomes led all scorers with 26 points, including 18 in the first half. He also pulled down 15 rebounds.
“We need to get out on Gomes a little more because he is a very good player,” Beilein said. “Tonight, it made it even harder to guard him because he did not miss very many shots.”
Sanders added 17 points for the Friars with six Providence players scoring overall, but no other Friar scored double figures. The Mountaineers were planning on guarding the
Providence sharp shooters much closer, but after committing nine fouls in the first half, West Virginia had to switch to a man-defense, that allowed the Friars room to shoot over the Mountaineer defenders.
“Our game plan was to be more aggressive and play more man-to-man defense, but
when we got into foul trouble, we had to back off a little and play zone,” Beilein said.
“Providence was able to shoot well enough to take advantage of our mismatches.”
West Virginia was outscored 44-27 by halftime and never threatened after the break as the Friars opened up a 20-point lead midway through the second half. Mountaineer point guard Drew Schifino usually leads the West Virginia charge, but was held to only 11 points on a 3-8 shooting performance. Chaz Briggs led the Mountaineers in scoring with 12 points.
“When West Virginia runs their offense the way they want, they can play with anybody in the country,” Welsh said. “That’s why we thought it was so important to take them out of their game before they could get their style of play in gear.”
Schifino did not let this game deplete his spirits. He sees nothing but promise for the future, though, as he pointed out the improvement from last season, when the Mountaineers won only one conference game and did not qualify for the tournament, to this season, when they won 14 games and took a step in the right direction by returning to the tournament this year.
“I think the progress we have made with Coach Beilein from last year to this year shows that this program is going up, so I look forward to next season,” Schifino said. “Our goal this year was to make the Big East Tournament and no one thought we could do it, so I am proud of our coach and my teammates.”
Beilein was surprised in his first season in the Big East by the size and skill of the post players, but he plans on being more prepared next season.
“After being banged on night after night by the likes of Ontario Lett (Pittsburgh) and Mike Sweetney (Georgetown), we were just wore down,” Beilein said. “Our plan in the off-season is to work on our strength and conditioning and be more prepared for Big East play as a team next season.”