Beilein: WVU not taking Herd lightly...

[IE]

CHARLESTON--John Beilein was presented a piece of paper Monday afternoon as he concluded a meeting with the media and his eyes immediately focused on the three lines someone had taken the time to highlight in pink.

THREE-POINT FIELD-GOAL ATTEMPTS

WITHOUT MAKING ONE

22--Canisius vs. St. Bonaventure, Jan. 21, 1995

"Oh, that game," he said. "Oh, goodness."

In that game, Beilein's Canisius Griffins were -- oh, goodness -- 0-for-22 from 3-point range and set the NCAA record in a 14-point loss against rival St. Bonaventure.

No wonder coaches say anything can happen in a rivalry game.

No wonder Beilein takes absolutely nothing for granted as 11-1 WVU takes on 2-10 Marshall in the Capital Classic tonight inside the Charleston Civic Center.

The game will begin after the women's game, likely around 8 o'clock.

"Do not be fooled by their record," Beilein said. "This is a good basketball team. If we don't play well, we won't win."

Marshall is just No. 239 in the latest RPI ratings, but owns the 60th hardest schedule in the country. The Thundering Herd have lost five games by five points or fewer. WVU, ranked No. 47 in the same poll, has the 212th most difficult schedule.

Plus, the nature of this game in the heated, partisan environment tends to bring the two teams closer together.

"Rivalry games always have more excitement," Beilein said, "and any time there's more excitement, you put more emphasis on 'anything can happen.'"

That 1994-'95 season provided two great examples.

"That same year, we had gone to their place and we had a 45-year losing streak at St. Bonaventure," Beilein said. "We ended up beating them."

The rematch came later in conference play, but a schedule mixup forced the teams out of the Memorial Auditorium, where the Griffins played many of their games and certainly the bigger ones, and instead into the Koessler Athletic Center on campus.

"It held 2,500 people and it was a zoo," Beilein said. "It was where we practiced, too, so we should have had a bigger advantage. We just had an awful night."

Which, to say the least, was odd because Canisius didn't have too many of those nights that season. The Griffins led the country in road victories and finished 21-14 with an invitation to the NIT.

"We had good shooters, too," Beilein said. "That same year we beat Cincinnati and UNC-Charlotte at their place...But that night we just could not shoot."

Granted, a similar night or an extraordinary event could pop up at random at any point during any season, but those things just seem to happen more against a rival than against anyone else.

"This state certainly would not go into a state of shock if Marshall beat West Virginia," Beilein said.


Marshall

Thundering Herd

LOCATION: Huntington

ENROLLMENT: 16,000

COACH: Ron Jirsa

RECORD: 14-27 (two years), 49-57 (four years)

SERIES RECORD: WVU leads, 24-8

TEAM RECORD: 2-10

NEUTRAL RECORD: 0-1

FACTS: Today's game in will be televised from the Charleston Civic Center live on the Capital Classic Network (WBOY Clarksburg; WTRF Wheeling; WOWK Charleston/Huntington; WVNS Beckley; WJAL Chambersburg, Pa.). Fewer than 500 tickets were available Monday morni ng. ... WVU fell out of the AP poll and slipped from No. 23 to No. 24 in the coaches' poll. The Mountaineers were 1-1 this past week, their first in the national polls since 1998. ... WVU is 14-13 all-time on this date. ... WVU has won two straight and seven of the past eight in the series. Those eight games have been decided by an average of 5.9 points. ... John Beilein is 2-1 all-time against Marshall, but 2-0 witha pair of four-point victories since beciming head coach at WVU. ... Beilein needs four victories to move into 100th place on the list of the NCAA's all-time winningest coaches. ... WVU has won five straight games in the Charleston Civic Center. ...

Point guard Jarmon Durisseau-Collins is "almost back to being healthy," according to Beilein, and will play. Freshman Darris Nichols will start for a second straight game, though. "I probably would stay with my supersition," Beilein said. "Rarely in my history have I changed my starting lineup arter a 'W.'"

 

[IE]

Fischer doesn't 'Wilt' at the line

D?or Fischer?s eyes are at the level that other giants of his sport saw the world from.

Yet, centers like Shaquille O?Neal treat a free throw like they were just handed a 200-degree cannon ball. They seem happy just to be rid of the thing. An often-errant flick toward the rim at least gets it out of their hands.

Not so with Fischer, West Virginia University?s 6-foot-11 senior center who is better known for his shot-blocking skills. Fischer is unlike O?Neal, Wilt Chamberlain or Dennis Rodman. He covets each free throw, cradles each shot before its release.

?I?ve just been getting better and better each year,? said Fischer, a basketball late-bloomer.

Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum, Fischer continued his sizzling free-throw shooting of the 2004-05 season. He sank 4-of-4 in the final 7:19 of the game, 6-of-7 overall and finished with a team-best 18 points as WVU outlasted improved Big East Conference rival St. John?s, 64-60, before 9,536 fans.

Notre Dame may have its Chris Thomas and Pittsburgh its Carl Krauser ? point guards who handle the ball all game and are good free-throw shooters. WVU (11-1, 1-1 in Big East) instead has someone almost a foot taller who is its most-reliable from the line.

?Even when he is long or short, he has such tremendous touch it usually drops in,? WVU Coach John Beilein said of Fischer.

Entering the Mountaineers? 8 p.m. Tuesday intrastate contest with staggering Marshall (2-10) at the Charleston Civic Center, Fischer leads the Big East in foul-shooting having made 37-of-41 free throws for .902 percent. He is a make ahead of Thomas (.898, 44-of-49).

Of late, Fischer has been particularly sizzling. His 9-of-10 effort helped seal the Dec. 29 win over nationally ranked George Washington. He was also 8-of-8 in a win at North Carolina State. During the last four games, Fischer is a combined 27-of-29 from the line.

?I give credit to my coaches,? Fischer said. ?We shoot 100 free throws before games. You know you?re going to have to go to the line sometime, you know what I mean??

Still, Fischer would have an excuse if he just wanted to be average at the line. Just last season, Big East inside powerhouses such as Connecticut?s Emeka Okafor (52 percent) and Boston College?s Craig Smith (57 percent) struggled after being fouled. In 2003-04, Fischer, in his first WVU season after transferring from Northwestern State, made 78 percent (69-of-89).

?Most of them aren?t good shooters, I guess,? Beilein said of inside-oriented players. ?They don?t practice from there a great deal.?

Fischer has his own theory as to why big men can?t shoot foul shots.

?A lot of it is because their hands are so big,? he said. ?It?s hard for them to get their hands on the ball. They?re also very, very strong. They don?t have that touch.?

Fischer also continued his good field-goal shooting, hitting 6-of-8 from the floor.

That included a layup with 51 seconds left off a Johannes Herber pass to put WVU up, 63-55. A minute before, Fischer hit a cutting Darris Nichols for a layup with WVU?s lead sitting at 59-55.

Fischer, who has a deadly jumper up to about 17 feet, is shooting 63 percent from the field this season.

Forward Mike Gansey added 12 points and seven rebounds and Herber (3-of-3 on 3-pointers) 10 points and four assists as the No. 21 Mountaineers recovered from Wednesday?s 38-point loss at Villanova. The Mountaineers committed a season-high 19 turnovers, yet overcame a sometimes-brilliant performance by Red Storm guard Daryll Hill (career-high 29 points, but seven turnovers).

Fischer said he has his reason for being cool in late-game, free-throw shooting situations.

?I don?t want to look back and say, ?Hey, we could have won that game if I had made those free throws,? ? he said.

Although he grew up in the northeast, Fischer quickly gained affection for the WVU-Marshall rivalry in his series debut last season.

?I was nervous,? he said. ?There are a lot of people. When you start, you have the one side, Marshall, screaming and everything and you have West Virginia. It?s like a game they can?t wait for.?

Beilein was more practical in his evaluation of the contest matching the Mountain State?s two Division I programs.

?If we had played their schedule, we would not be 11-1,? he said. ?That?s as tough a schedule as any mid-major has played.?

* * *

Dribbles and drivel:

n The WVU-Marshall game will be televised in Charleston/Huntington by WOWK.

n WVU has won three straight against St. John?s. The Mountaineers have not beaten a Big East team more than four consecutive times ? both Rutgers and Seton Hall ? since joining the conference in 1995-96. WVU plays Feb. 16 at St. John?s.

n Nichols, a freshman, played a career-high 30 minutes in starting for ailing point guard Jarmon Durisseau-Collins (ankle sprain).

n The student section briefly chanted ?Jason Gwaltney? and some offered high-fives for the well-touted scholastic running back who attended the game on an official recruiting visit. Gwaltney is a Long Island native.

Gansey is averaging 9.4 rebounds in WVU?s last five games.

 

[IE]

?It?s us against them?!!



Herd-Mountaineer rivalry heats up in Charleston today...


CHARLESTON -- Casey Wohlleb thought he understood what the Capital Classic was all about before he went to class Monday.

Marshall classmates told him otherwise.

"I?ve been telling people that I know what it?s going to be like," the Thundering Herd freshman men?s basketball player said. "Now I?ve heard that I don?t. People are telling me, ?No, you don?t understand?."

Wohlleb?s classmates made sure he knew West Virginia has only two NCAA Division I schools, so the annual Capital Classic matchup is a big deal.

Other people told him the rivalry is "us against them," he said.

Marshall stumbles into today?s 8 p.m. game at the Charleston Civic Center with a 2-10 record.

West Virginia is riding high at 11-1, although the Mountaineers fell out of The Associated Press Top 25 this week.

The Mountaineers appeared at No. 21 in last week?s poll before losing at Villanova and bouncing back Saturday with a home win over St. John?s.

A full house in the 12,000 range is guaranteed with only about 500 tickets remaining Monday afternoon.

"It?s definitely going to be exciting," said Wohlleb, a Florida native getting his first taste of the rivalry.

West Virginia rules the series that rotated between home courts in its early years, leading all-time 24-8, and is 13-2 against Marshall since the game moved to Charleston permanently in the 1991-92 season.

The women?s teams take the court first for a 5:30 p.m. game, followed by the men?s contest. By the time the men?s teams come out the building is packed with frenzied fans decked out in MU green and white on one side and WVU gold and blue across the court. The bands are blaring, the cheerleaders are carrying on a competition of their own and the Mountaineer mascot has fired his musket.

"Great atmosphere. Great game," Marshall head coach Ron Jirsa said. "I just hope we can do our part."

In defense of Marshall, a strong non-conference schedule is at least partly the reason for a losing record, West Virginia head coach John Beilein said. Included in the Herd?s losses are six games determined by single-digit margins.


"It?s not like we own the place," Beilein said.

Both teams are playing for the third time in a week so depth could become a factor, especially with West Virginia guards Patrick Beilein, the coach?s son, and J.D. Collins, nursing ankle injuries but expected to play.

Marshall appears to be at full strength with 6-foot-7 forward LaVar Carter back from a head injury. Carter was on the court 25 minutes Sunday in a loss at Ohio and contributed 12 points.

Sally, a 6-7 senior, leads three double-figure scorers for the Mountaineers with a 12.3 average. St. Bonaventure transfer Mike Gansey, a 6-4 junior, and 6-11 senior D?or Fischer average 11.8 and 10.8 points respectively. Gansey is the leading rebounder with a 6.7 average.

Fischer is definitely a difference-maker defensively with 36 blocked shots.

"Fischer is one of the best centers in the nation," said Marshall?s 6-9 Mark Patton, who will probably be assigned to guard the WVU big man.

Marshall also has a trio of double-figure scorers led by freshman guard Joe Miles (14.3) -- the only first-year player in the nation with double figures in every game. Patton is scoring 11.8 points a game and collecting 8.6 rebounds. David Anderson, the Herd?s 6-8 senior forward, averages 10 points and 5.8 rebounds.

Patton and WVU?s Kevin Pittsnogle from Martinsburg are the only state natives playing in the game.

"It is a rivalry and we?re looking forward to playing them," Patton said.

 

[IE]

Capital Classic events

CHARLESTON -- Capital Classic game-day events for the fans include a luncheon and reception.

The MU Tip-Off Club of Charleston has a noon luncheon in the Athletic Club restaurant of the Embassy Suites hotel. Speakers include Marshall head coaches Ron Jirsa and Royce Chadwick.

Admission is $11. To RSVP call Rusty Webb at 343-2900.

A Marshall University Alumni Association reception begins at 6 p.m. in the South Hall of the Charleston Civic Center. Marshall interim president Michael Farrell will be present.

The reception is free. Hors d?oeuvres and a cash bar will be available.

Beilein said the Marshall won-loss record isn?t indicative of what kind of team Jirsa is building in his second year.

"I don?t know if they?ve played any teams that do not have winning records right now," Beilein said. "They need a big win somewhere to just get themselves believing that they can win. They?re so darn close that, yes, it is dangerous playing them.

"We will not be looking past them, I guarantee you that."

Trips to Charleston during Beilein?s three seasons at West Virginia have been good for the Mountaineers, beginning with a victory over a ranked Florida team in 2002. The Mountaineers also have two Civic Center wins over Marshall, a win over St. Louis and this season?s victory over St. Bonaventure under the coach.

Beilein obviously knows how to win, but said his teams have been lucky at the same time.

Last season?s Capital Classic, a low-scoring contest WVU won 55-51, was determined in the final minute. Tyrone Sally for the Mountaineers grabbed an offensive rebound and scored the go-ahead basket with only 32 seconds remaining.

The past six Capital Classics were decided by single digits and two went into overtime.