WVU in NIT semis
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – West Virginia left Madison Square Garden in disappointment after a 82-71 overtime loss to Louisville in the second round of the Big East Tournament on March 8. It get a second chance to walk away as a tournament winner at New York’s famous venue thanks to their performance on Tuesday night.
The Mountaineers defeated North Carolina State, 71-66, in front of a raucous crowd of 11,215 at the WVU Coliseum to reach the NIT Final Four for the first time since 1981.
West Virginia will play Mississippi State in the NIT semifinals at Madison Square Garden next Tuesday.
Frank Young scored a game-high 25 points, with the last six coming on back-to-back 3-pointers to rally West Virginia from a 62-58 deficit.
Alex Ruoff added 15 points, including a clutch trey to put the Mountaineers ahead for good, 67-65, with just under a minute remaining. Ruoff also had 11 assists.
Da’Sean Butler iced the game for West Virginia by sinking two free throws with 2.2 seconds left.
Brandon Costner led North Carolina State with 22 points and 13 rebounds. Engin Atsur followed with 14 points, and Gavin Grant had 12 points.
West Virginia (25-9) cruised to victories in the first two rounds of the tournament, blowing out Delaware State, 74-50 and beating Massachusetts 90-77. The Mountaineers, as the top-seeded team in the East region, had the opportunity to play at home the first three rounds.
The sixth-seeded Wolfpack (20-16) won at Drexel in the first round, 63-56, and at home against Marist in the second round, 69-62.
The two teams also played in the regular season with West Virginia winning at North Carolina State on 71-60 on Dec. 6, although the Wolfpack played that game without starting point guard Atsur, who was out with an injury.
West Virginia’s Darris Nichols scored the game’s first basket and the Mountaineers never trailed again in the first half.
West Virginia jumped out to a 16-11 lead after a no-look pass by Ruoff resulted in a nice reverse lay-up by Butler, forcing Wolfpack coach Sidney Lowe to call a time out with 11:37 left in the half.
The Mountaineers took their biggest, 24-16, on Wellington Smith’s bank shot, his only points of the game, with 5:53 left.
North Carolina State out-scored WVU 10-4 the rest of the half, however, to trail by only two at the break, 28-26.
The Wolfpack took their first lead of the game on Atsur’s 3-pointer at the 17:12 mark, but Joe Alexander fired right back with a 3-pointer to put the Mountaineers ahead again.
North Carolina State pulled even twice before surging in front again, 49-47, on Grant’s jumper with 8:47 left.
The lead would change hands 11 more times down the stretch.
Yough graduate Ben McCauley was held to four points and six rebounds in only 20 minutes of action for North Carolina State, his worst performance in what had otherwise been a sparkling postseason.
The 6-foot-9 sophomore forward/center is the only Wolfpack player to start in all 36 games this season and has evolved into one of North Carolina State’s top all-around players. Entering Tuesday’s game he led the team in field goal percentage (.592) and offensive rebounds (85), was second in rebounds (6.9 per game), assists (114) and steals (36), and third in scoring (14.7) and blocked shots (22).
McCauley recorded six double-doubles this season, including three in the postseason. He turned the trick against Duke in the Wolfpack’s 85-80 overtime victory in the ACC tournament, and also did it in the first two games of the NIT.
The quarterfinal game was the third meeting between West Virginia and North Carolina State in the NIT. The Wolfpack won 64-52 in 1947, while the Mountaineers were victorious 76-73 in 1997.
West Virginia, making its 15th appearance in the NIT, won its only title in 1942.