WVU Basketball

Most new guys spend a few hours a day together when they come to a new university and start summer practices.

The West Virginia men's basketball team will be spending every second together.

They better get used to it.

On Aug. 8, West Virginia will be heading to Italy for a short series of games across the sea. It just so happens that Illinois will be in the same city on the same day the Mountaineers are.

The Mountaineers are scheduled to play the Illinois Men's Basketball team on the 17th at an event to entertain U.S. soldiers stationed in Venice, Italy.

The activities will include a basketball clinic hosted by the West Virginia team for ages 12 and under as well as an opportunity for the U.S. Military athletic teams to take on the Mountaineers during a series of short scrimmages.

There will also be a slam dunk contest hosted by the student athletes, which new arrival Aaric Murray will not be participating in, as NCAA player transfer rules do not allow him to attend the trip to Italy.

The day will finish with WVU taking on Illinois in a scrimmage that will consist of two 10-minute halves.

According to Rusty Bryan of Europe SportsBlog on Stripes.com, the events will take place at Aviano Air Base just outside Venice, Italy. Both teams will play their military counterparts for 10 minutes. The youth camp is free and will be open to children ages 5 to 18 with proper military identification, the scrimmages, will also be free.

The NCAA had granted a waiver to disregard a rule that wouldn't allow two collegiate teams in the United States to play each other before the beginning of the season, but because of the nature of the event, the NCAA decided to allow it.

The Mountaineers team which consists of many new faces with only Darryl "Truck" Bryant, Kevin Jones and Deniz Kilicli returning to the team from last season. Forward Kevin Noreen is returning but only played a few minutes last season before being redshirted.

Though they have a lot of learning to do to pick up the new style of up-tempo offense WVU head coach Bob Huggins is trying to incorporate this season, the Mountaineers head coach is somewhat encouraged by their recent development.

Despite their lack of experience, this new Mountaineers team is loaded with talent and is pushing hard to get into rhythm and start winning games.

West Virginia is also expected to play against some other athletics teams during their trip to Italy, a full schedule will be released on Aug. 8.

When most college students are at home visiting family and friends or down at the shore enjoying the sand and sun, Aaric Murray was playing basketball.

The transfer from La Salle spent the summer practicing and working on his game as he tried out for the US Basketball team in the World University Games.

Murray had made the first cut when the initial roster of 21 collegiate players from across the country was cut to just 14.

Then on August 3rd, the team was cut to a 12-man roster, of which, Murray was not included.

That roster does include: Scoop Jardine (Syracuse), Draymond Green (Michigan State), Marcus Denmon (Missouri), Ashton Gibbs (Pitt), Tim Abromaitis (Notre Dame), Greg Mangano (Yale), Trevor Mbakwe (Minnesota), Darius Miller (Kentucky), Ray McCallum (Detroit Mercy), Orlando Johnson (UCSB), John Jenkins (Vanderbilt) and JaMychal Green (Alabama).

Murray had transferred from La Salle after deciding it would be a better choice of school for him to get some additional exposure.

Unfortunately, due to NCAA player transfer regulations, he will have to sit on the bench and wait out this season, but he hopes to be on the court next year. He will also not be able to join the rest of his team in August when they travel to Italy for some exhibition games.

In his two years at La Salle, Murray averaged 13 points, seven rebounds and two steals per game. Toward the end of his second season, he began playing much better, almost averaging a double-double for the Explorers.

His 6'10" frame will add much needed height to a Mountaineers squad who could use some taller players to match up with the other star players of the powerhouses in the Big East conference.

Despite having to wait another season, Aaric Murray is showing he could end up being great.

By that time the Mountaineers may be back to running things the way Ole Bob Huggins, likes to run offense, fast.

Although in the past few seasons we've seen a very slow, grind-it-out type of game plan by the Mountaineers, I fully expect the coach to get back to what won him so many games when he coached at Cincinnati.

Murray seems to have come to appreciate the game more after participating in the World University Games tryouts, hopefully this will encourage him to encourage his teammates to come together and accomplish the ultimate goal of bringing home a championship to Morgantown.

Since the start of the 2004-05 NCAA men’s basketball season the West Virginia University Mountaineers have won 174 games and are 12-5 in NCAA tournament games.

During that same span WVU has advanced to one Final Four, one Elite Eight and two Sweet Sixteen games. The Mountaineers lost in the first round once in 2009.

In 2007, WVU was passed over for an at-large bid for the NCAA tournament. Instead they went to the National Invitational Tournament and took the trophy as that tournament's champion.

For all of the warts that have been written about the WVU men’s basketball team this year, the one glaring attribute that has been widely overlooked is their abundant tournament experience.

The Mountaineers have been there and done that, with the exception of winning the whole enchilada.

West Virginia got past the Clemson Tigers in their first round game on Thursday, setting up a rematch with the Kentucky Wildcats in the second round—a Bob Huggins versus John Calipari rematch if you will.

Calipari was prophetic last week when he reportedly texted Huggins about meeting in the second round.

Absurd is the notion that WVU will get past Kentucky and advance to the Sweet Sixteen. Suffice to say that Kentucky will be the prohibitive favorite.

Cue the sound of screeching breaks, not so fast my friends. WVU has a better chance of winning than most would give them credit for.

The reason, the one glaring weakness for the Wildcats is precisely what the Mountaineers have in abundance, tournament experience.

The Mountaineers are not what any basketball fan would call a polished team. Instead they are a savvy bunch that projects their coach’s personality and work ethic. Defense and hustle are the cornerstones of WVU basketball.

Not at all unlike their famous coach when he wore the WVU uniform.

The Big East Basketball Conference placed a record 11 teams in the NCAA tournament this year. That is the gauntlet that WVU traveled to get to the second-round game against Kentucky.

WVU’s strength of schedule and RPI numbers are very respectable to say the least.

Throw regular season records and mutual opponents out the window. Forget that Calipari will probably be pacing the sideline in an designer suit to Huggins’ track suit. None of that will matter.

It is West Virginia against Kentucky, Bob Huggins against John Calipari, and the Hatfields against the McCoys. This is a border war for bragging rights.

Most Kentucky fans would thumb their noses at WVU fans, until last year. The game that Kentucky has wanted since is now a reality. Do not be fooled for an instant that Kentucky fans do not remember.

When the guy in the Kentucky hat starts to chide you in your WVU hat about Kentucky’s historical dominance in college basketball, simply remind him that since that 2004-05 season it is WVU that has won more basketball games than Kentucky (173).

Then sit back and enjoy the game. Bragging rights are on the line.

After last weekend’s upset of Notre Dame at home, the Mountaineers could not duplicate the same result as Pittsburgh took the season sweep of the hoops version of the Backyard Brawl in a rout, 71-58.

Kevin Jones, the shooting enigma for WVU, reappeared during the game collecting nine points in the first half to go with a rebound and a block for the Mountaineers.

The thing that seems to trouble me during games lately is why Jones hasn’t got the ball more with a team that doesn’t seem to be able to score for Bob Huggins if their scholarship depended on it after a good start to the season.

For Pittsburgh, the offense traveled through Gilbert Brown as he made three three-pointers in the first half in route to an 11-point first half for the home team.

After a bit of back and forth, the first half ended with West Virginia having a slim one-point lead against the No. 6 Panthers on the road.

After a close first 20 minutes of the game, Pittsburgh out-muscled the Mountaineers by a score of 41-27 in the second half on their way to victory Thursday night.

The majority of the muscle flexed was from a trio of Panthers that played kinda small in the first 20 minutes as Brad Wanamaker, Ashton Gibbs and Lamar Patterson put up 23 points for Pittsburgh.

Wanamaker was a couple of rebounds and assists from a triple double as he amassed 11 points, seven rebounds and eight assists in the big win Thursday night.

As the Panthers were running away from WVU, Casey Mitchell was the main source of offense for the Mountaineers as he scored 22 points in addition to only two rebounds and an assist.

In a no show for the Mountaineers, John Flowers was held scoreless with five rebounds in 26 minutes on the floor, which could be circled as the reason for the dramatic loss to their biggest rival last night.

With that said, let’s take a look at the stats from the beatdown laid on the Mountaineers by their Steel City rivals Thursday.

Players of the Game

West Virginia: Casey Mitchell—22 Points, Two Rebounds, Assist

Pittsburgh: Brad Wanamaker—11 Points, Seven Rebounds, Eight Rebounds

Shooting

West Virginia: 17-51 Field Goals Made—Attempted, 33.3 Percent

Pittsburgh: 27-47 Field Goals Made—Attempted, 57.4 Percent

Free-Throw Shooting

West Virginia: 17-23 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 73.9 Percent

Pittsburgh: 12-20 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 60 Percent

Rebounding

West Virginia: 25 Rebounds, Nine Offensive Rebounds

Pittsburgh: 31 Rebounds, Seven Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers

West Virginia: Nine

Pittsburgh: Eight

After losing their past game against Syracuse on Valentine's Day, West Virginia stole some of the luck of the Irish from Notre Dame in their upset of the No. Eight team in the nation today, 72-58 in Morgantown.

The Irish's leading scorer Ben Hansbrough, who's averaged nearly 18 points per game this season, was the main offensive force against WVU during the first 20 minutes of the game.

Hansbrough controlled the game plan, collecting nine points in addition to five total rebounds for Notre Dame. Scott Martin also made a good contribution for the team, adding seven points and two rebounds of his own in the first half.

For the home standing Mountaineers, Joe Mazzulla, the second half MVP for WVU in my opinion, led the way with nine points of his own to counteract the play of Hansbrough. The enigma that is Kevin Jones made an appearance today, as he added five points to the first half of action for the Mountaineers.

As the first half ended, the Irish took a one point lead into the break over the Mountaineers, 27-26.

Mazzulla continued his good play from the first half down the stretch of the game with seven more points, finishing the day with 16 points.

Down the stretch for the Irish, Hansbrough came up short in the final 20,scoring only five points, as West Virginia was able to pull away from Notre Dame in the last 10 minutes of the game.

Looking at the stats, the biggest key to this upset was West Virginia limiting their turnovers to just four while Notre Dame had 10 for the game. Additionally, WVU going 20 of 27 from the free throw line makes life a little easier for Bob Huggins and the Mountaineer Maniacs in Touchdown City.

With that being said, let's get to the stats from the game where WVU got back into the win column in the Big East in a big way.

Players of the Game
Notre Dame: Ben Hansbrough - 19 Points, Seven Rebounds, Two Assists, Two Steals
West Virginia: Joe Mazzulla - 16 Points, Five Rebounds, Seven Assists

Shooting
Notre Dame: 21-60 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 35.0 Percent
West Virginia: 22.54 Field Goals Made- Attempted, 40.7 Percent

Free Throw Shooting
Notre Dame: 8-13 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 61.5 Percent
West Virginia: 20-27 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 74.1 Percent

Rebounding
Notre Dame: 37 Rebounds, 14 Offensive Rebounds
West Virginia: 35 Rebounds, 9 Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers
Notre Dame: 10 Turnovers
West Virginia: 4 Turnovers

With his team preparing to take the court against DePaul on Saturday afternoon, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins was feeling a bit uneasy.

"I was nervous as can be before the game," Huggins said. "This is one we had to have."

Huggins is a man known to prowl the sidelines with a gruff outward demeanor, save of course for an occasional stink-eye pointed toward a referee, so it's unusual to hear him admit any weakness, especially against a Blue Demon team that hasn't won since 2010 and is currently sporting a 0-12 conference record.

Welcome to life in the Big East.

It turns out it wasn't DePaul that made Huggins nervous, rather a remaining schedule that would send any coach with dreams of the Big Dance looking for some Rolaids.

Six games left for West Virginia, five of them against ranked teams. Combine that with their recent losses to No. 4 Pittsburgh and No. 14 Villanova, and the Mountaineers will finish their regular season with seven of nine games against top-20 teams.

In case you are wondering, since the AP poll was first introduced in 1948, West Virginia has never played a stretch this difficult.

Welcome to life in the Big East.

It begins tonight at Syracuse, a team the Mountaineers have beaten just once in their last 12 contests. Things won't get easier after that, with No. 7 Notre Dame, No. 4 Pittsburgh, No. 9 UConn and No. 15 Louisville all looming on the schedule.

Assuming West Virginia doesn't suddenly learn how to shoot better than the 43 percent they are currently firing, they are looking at at least a few losses coming down the stretch. The question then becomes: When will their standing in the field of 64 (sorry, 68) come into question?

If by some miracle the Mountaineers could go 3-3 over their final six games the drama is gone and West Virginia will be in. Anything less than that, Mountaineer Nation will be on pins and needles come Selection Sunday.

Joe Lunardi, the resident "bracketologist" at ESPN, currently has the Mountaineers in the tournament as a No. 6 seed, one of 11 Big East teams slated to make it. If that seems like a big number, it is, considering that no conference has ever sent more than eight teams to the Dance.

With eight teams separated by three games in the standings, the toughest conference in basketball is screaming towards one of the best finishes in league history, and a potentially epic conference tournament.

And if what has transpired thus far this season is any indication, West Virginia will be sweating bullets the whole way through.

Welcome to life in the Big East.

Mired in the midst of perhaps the most brutal closing stretch of basketball in West Virginia history, with six of their remaining opponents nationally ranked, the Mountaineers picked just about the worst time possible to fall into a shooting slump.

That has been the most popular theory, coming from both fans and pundits alike, after their 66-50 loss at the hands of Villanova on Saturday afternoon, where West Virginia managed just 19 first-half points and finished the game shooting 35 percent from the field.

There is just one problem with that theory: It's not true.

The truth is, the Mountaineers' recent struggles have little to do with a shooting slump and more to do with their ability to shoot in the first place.

One or two games can be overlooked, but West Virginia's poor shooting has been the elephant in the room (or Coliseum if you prefer) all season and their schedule has finally pushed it to the forefront. 

For the season, West Virginia is shooting 43 percent from the field, good enough for 10th in the Big East.

With the Conference as stacked as it is, being in the top 10 of anything isn't awful, but the Mountaineers' 43 percent is buoyed by their early season schedule, where they shot 51 percent against both American and Oakland, 47 percent against VMI and a staggering 55 percent against Robert Morris.

Their more recent, in-conference matchups have painted a much different picture. Against nine Conference foes, along with their annual quagmire against Marshall, West Virginia is shooting a whopping 40 percent in their last 10 games; that includes four games where they shot below 35 percent, highlighted by consecutive 33 percent rock fights against South Florida and Marshall.

This isn't just a slump, it's an epidemic. 

After spending 300 words bemoaning the Mountaineers shooting abilities, there is one stat that stands out above the rest: 7-3.

As in, despite laying more bricks than a mason over the last 10 games, West Virginia has managed to go 7-3.

That mark is a tribute to the toughness of both the players and their coach, and the biggest reason why West Virginia is still in the hunt for a berth in the Big Dance. As to whether or not that grit and guile will be enough down the stretch remains to be seen, but if nothing else, they've shown Coach Huggins the best way to win.

"We're not just going to run up and down and beat anyone in this league, we lost too many guys," Huggins said after the loss to Villanova.

"Now we can win, but we've got to do it the way we have to do it. I don't like it that way, but that's the way it is."

The way to win then, if history is any indication, is to take the air out of the ball. They couldn't run with 'Nova on Saturday and they certainly won't be able to run with more talented teams like Pittsburgh and Notre Dame.

It's not the style of basketball that fans have come to expect under Huggins and it's certainly not the most entertaining style of play, but with eight games, it might be the only way to win.

Call it ugly, call it boring, both adjectives fit.

Just don't call it a slump.

With the chemistry blending together for the shorthanded Mountaineers in the past two weeks, it was back to square one after a blowout by the No. 12 Villanova Wildcats Saturday afternoon.

West Virginia was able to get a strong start on the Wildcats, jumping out to a 10-4 lead as the game tipped off in Philadelphia, and Jay Wright was trying to figure out the Mountaineer offense.

After a timeout by Villanova, the aforementioned lead that WVU was enjoying slowly began getting picked away at by Corey Fisher and the Villanova offense as WVU lost the early momentum.

Late in the first half, Casey Mitchell entered the game off his suspension by Coach Huggins doing more harm than good, as he accounted for two turnovers in addition to grabbing down two rebounds in 13 minutes.

With the offensive no-show by Mitchell, Villanova was able to take a sizeable lead into halftime with the Mountaineers trailing the No. 12 team in the country 30-19 at the break.

For the Wildcats, Corey Fisher was the catalyst for the offense as he knocked down 11 points in addition to Antonio Pena contributing six points in the first. On the other bench, John Flowers had 10 points in the first 20 minutes for the Mountaineers.

Coming out of the break, the Mountaineers offense sputtered as the Wildcats went on a major run in the middle of the half breaking the game open for the home team leading to their 19th win this season, seventh win in the Big East. With the loss, WVU drops to 6-4 in the Big East with an overall record of 15-7.

With that being said, let’s get to the stats from the game showing how the Mountaineers were outmuscled at their own game this afternoon.

Players of the Game

West Virginia: Kevin Jones- 16 Points, Six Rebounds, Two Assists, Steal

Villanova: Corey Fisher – 16 Points, Two Rebounds, Five Assists, Steal

Shooting

West Virginia: 19-53 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 35.8 Percent

Villanova: 25-46 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 54.3 Percent

Free Throw Shooting

West Virginia: 5-12 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 41.7 Percent

Villanova: 9-15 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 60 Percent

Rebounding

West Virginia: 24 Rebounds, 12 Offensive Rebounds

Villanova: 26 Rebounds, Six Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers

West Virginia: Nine

Villanova: Eight

This Mountaineers article and others like it can be found at Sports Haze.

After the suspension of leading scorer Casey Mitchell to still unknown reasons, the majority of basketball fans would have left the Mountaineers as roadkill on the highway that is the Big East Conference.

With two wins in the past three games since Mitchell being excused, West Virginia has found yet another winning formula in lineups that certainly had the Pirates of Seton Hall on their heels.

For the game Wednesday night, the Mountaineers came out strong against Seton Hall by grabbing a 2-0 lead within 45 seconds into the game and never letting the Pirates make a game of it in the first 20 minutes.

As the Mountaineers ended the first half with a comfortable 33-17 lead, Kevin Jones, WVU’s all-purpose player, lead the scoring for both teams as he had eight points in addition to seven rebounds at the break.

Cam Thoroughman also added six points to the Mountaineers’ first half success tonight.

With the second half, the duo of Jones and Thoroughman kept the West Virginia offense flowing smoothly to their sixth win in the Big East this season as Seton Hall falls to 4-7 in conference play.

For the Pirates, Jeff Robinson and Herb Pope were able to collect 17 points in addition to 13 rebounds in the losing effort for the consistent team that knocked off Syracuse just last week.

With that being said, let’s get to the stats on how the Mountaineers were able to earn another win in the Big East win column.

Players of the Game

Seton Hall: Herb Pope – Eight Points, seven Rebounds, one steal, one block

West Virginia: Kevin Jones – 13 Points, 12 Rebounds, one assist, one steal, one block

Shooting

Seton Hall: 18-61 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 29.5 Percent

West Virginia: 23-56 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 41.1 Percent

Free Throw Shooting

Seton Hall: 6-11 Free Throw Attempts, 54.5 Percent

West Virginia: 7-15 Free Throw Attempts, 46.7 Percent

Rebounding

Seton Hall: 32 Rebounds, 12 Offensive Rebounds

West Virginia: 46 Rebounds, 15 Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers

Seton Hall: 11

West Virginia: 13

This Mountaineers Basketball article and others like it can be found at SportsHaze.com.

 

After the dreadful shooting night on Wednesday, the West Virginia Mountaineers entered last night's game with the Cincinnati Bearcats looking for a win to keep up in conference play and keep some of the momentum they gained from their good January play.

The Mountaineers were able to accomplish both of those objectives as they left the Queen City with a 66–55 win on Saturday night.

With leading scorer Casey Mitchell suspended, John Flowers and Deniz Kilicli put West Virginia on their shoulders throughout the beginning part of the game as they scored 16 points collectively in addition to seven rebounds for WVU.

Guard Darryl Bryant also added six points to the Mountaineers’ cause in the first half.

For the Bearcats, coming off a good win against Rutgers on Wednesday, leading scorers Dion Dixon and Yancy Gates powered the offense for UC during the opening half as the duo netted 13 points as well as grabbing four rebounds.

As the first half ended, the Bearcats’ shots failed to hit the mark as the Mountaineers went on a 16-6 run during the final six minutes of the half, leading to a 31-30 halftime score at halftime.

As the second half opened, the offense for the Bearcats came solely from Cashmere Wright, dominating the first 10 plus minutes with seven points as he was the focal point of the bearcat offense.

Just as Wright was leading the way for the home team, Joe Mazzulla was showing flashes of his best Steve Nash impression in the second half as he spread the ball out to John Flowers and others leading to eight assists for the game.

With that being said, let’s get to the stats from tonight’s game on how the Mountaineers were able to bounce back from a loss for a huge Big East win.

Players of the Game:

West Virginia: Joe Mazzulla – 16 Points, Seven Rebounds, Eight Assists, Two Steals

Cincinnati: Cashmere Wright – 24 Points, Three Rebounds, Assist, Steal

Shooting:

West Virginia: 42.2 Percent, 19-45 Field Goals Made-Attempted

Cincinnati: 35.0 Percent, 21-60 Field Goals Made- Attempted

Free Throw Shooting:

West Virginia: 24-30 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 80.0 Percent

Cincinnati: 5-11 Free Throw Made-Attempted, 45.5 Percent

Rebounding:

West Virginia: 36 Rebounds, 11 Offensive Rebounds

Cincinnati: 27 Rebounds, 13 Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers:

West Virginia: 13 Turnovers

Cincinnati: Eight Turnovers