NEW YORK - West Virginia finally won a close game Saturday afternoon.
NEW YORK - West Virginia finally won a close game Saturday afternoon.
It may have gone largely unnoticed, but that's a rarity this season.
You want the numbers? Here they are:
In games decided by five points or less, the Mountaineers were 1-4 through the first 30 games, the only win that ugly 66-64 nail-biter over Marshall that wouldn't have been close had WVU been able to make a foul shot. Almost any foul shot.
In games decided by six to 10 points, the record was 1-2, the win coming by nine points at home over St. John's.
That means 22 of the first 30 games finished with double-digit margins. West Virginia was 19-3 in those games. It was almost feast or famine - a big win or no win at all.
We bring all of this up because there were two fairly interesting things at play in the Mountaineers' 83-74 overtime win over St. John's at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon.
Darris Nichols pretty much wasn't involved, which heretofore almost certainly would have meant a loss in a close game, and Joe Alexander was involved - and in a big way.
Both are positives for the Mountaineers as they get ready to head back to Madison Square Garden Wednesday for the first round of the Big East tournament.
The fact that West Virginia was able to survive without Nichols running the show certainly bodes well for the Mountaineers once they get him back. And the fact that Alexander shows absolutely no sign of ever slowing down is even more significant.
Just ask West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who was presented Saturday with the chance to explain why his team finally won a game it might have lost at almost any other time during the season.
"The biggest difference is Joe,'' Huggins said without hesitation, which for him is unusual because this is a guy who usually suffers through a pregnant pause before answering even the most obvious of questions.
Indeed, whatever it is that has possessed Alexander during the past week shows no signs of leaving. He followed a 32-point explosion last week against Connecticut in Hartford with 32 more Monday night in a win over Pitt. On Saturday he didn't even shoot the ball well (8-of-19 from the floor), but made 13-of-15 free throws, scored 29 points and had 10 rebounds.
For those scoring at home, in his last three games Alexander is averaging 31 points, 9.3 rebounds and has made 29-of-35 free throws.
NEW YORK - West Virginia finally won a close game Saturday afternoon.
It may have gone largely unnoticed, but that's a rarity this season.
You want the numbers? Here they are:
In games decided by five points or less, the Mountaineers were 1-4 through the first 30 games, the only win that ugly 66-64 nail-biter over Marshall that wouldn't have been close had WVU been able to make a foul shot. Almost any foul shot. In games decided by six to 10 points, the record was 1-2, the win coming by nine points at home over St. John's.That means 22 of the first 30 games finished with double-digit margins. West Virginia was 19-3 in those games. It was almost feast or famine - a big win or no win at all.
We bring all of this up because there were two fairly interesting things at play in the Mountaineers' 83-74 overtime win over St. John's at Madison Square Garden Saturday afternoon.
Darris Nichols pretty much wasn't involved, which heretofore almost certainly would have meant a loss in a close game, and Joe Alexander was involved - and in a big way.
Both are positives for the Mountaineers as they get ready to head back to Madison Square Garden Wednesday for the first round of the Big East tournament.
The fact that West Virginia was able to survive without Nichols running the show certainly bodes well for the Mountaineers once they get him back. And the fact that Alexander shows absolutely no sign of ever slowing down is even more significant.
Just ask West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who was presented Saturday with the chance to explain why his team finally won a game it might have lost at almost any other time during the season.
"The biggest difference is Joe,'' Huggins said without hesitation, which for him is unusual because this is a guy who usually suffers through a pregnant pause before answering even the most obvious of questions.
Indeed, whatever it is that has possessed Alexander during the past week shows no signs of leaving. He followed a 32-point explosion last week against Connecticut in Hartford with 32 more Monday night in a win over Pitt. On Saturday he didn't even shoot the ball well (8-of-19 from the floor), but made 13-of-15 free throws, scored 29 points and had 10 rebounds.
For those scoring at home, in his last three games Alexander is averaging 31 points, 9.3 rebounds and has made 29-of-35 free throws.
"We threw the ball in to Joe in the Oklahoma game, too,'' Huggins said, referring to one of those close losses, 88-84 in overtime back in late November. "He constantly wanted to pivot away from the defense.''
Now he's going right at the defense. And the defense can't do anything about it. Connecticut's 7-foot-4 Hasheem Thabeet couldn't do anything about it. Pitt's DeJuan Blair couldn't do anything about it. St. John's chorus line of defenders couldn't do anything about it.
It's not just what Alexander is doing, either. The difference in his play extends to everyone else on the floor, the ones who are smart enough to realize what they suddenly have.
"Early in the year we had mismatches and we didn't throw the ball in to him,'' Huggins said. "And he didn't demand the ball, either.''
At times Alexander seems to try a little too hard, at the expense of getting others involved in the offense. But the fact is he can get his shot almost any time he wants it, and as long as he's getting it and playing the way he has for the past week, why worry?
Nichols, on the other hand, is a concern. Yes, West Virginia managed to win without him Saturday. His backup, Joe Mazzulla, even hit the shot that sent the game into overtime and handled the ball well.
But there has to be a lot of training room work on Nichols' sprained ankle in the next few days, because this team just isn't the same without him. Mazzulla has seldom shown a penchant for being an outside scoring factor, whereas Nichols can both hit from the outside and drive effectively.
It would be nice if Nichols was healthy when the Mountaineers open play in the Big East tournament Wednesday. It's more important, though, that he's 100 percent for what comes after that.
And that more and more appears to be the NCAA tournament.
For a while there were some uneasy moments regarding the NCAAs on Saturday. The Mountaineers saw it slipping away. There seems a universal feeling now, though, that all is right with the world and that no matter what happens this week in New York, an NCAA berth is forthcoming.
That may or may not be true. A first-round loss at the garden Wednesday would surely raise some red flags of concern.
But for now, these guys are resting a little easier.
"It's all we've thought about all week. And it kind of hit home late in the game,'' Alexander said, referring to the point when the Mountaineers trailed St. John's by four with less than 90 seconds to play. "Being on the bubble was just as bad as not making the tournament. I didn't want to spend another week there.''
To contact staff writer Dave Hickman, call 348-1734 or send e-mail to dphickm...@aol.com.
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