NCAA tournament: West Virginia tops Washington, 69-56
-
West Virginia's Da'Sean Butler and Kevin Jones celebrate during the second half of a 69-56 win in an East Region Sweet 16 game at the Carrier Dome in Syracuse, N.Y., Thursday. -
West Virginia's John Flowers celebrates as he walks off the court following the game. -
West Virginia's Devin Ebanks drives for a shot attempt against Washington's Quincy Pondexter. -
West Virginia's Kevin Jones celebrates in the second half. -
Washington's Justin Holiday looks to pass against West Virginia's Devin Ebanks. -
West Virginia's Joe Mazzulla drives for a shot attempt. -
West Virginia's Wellington Smith drives against Washington's Isaiah Thomas. -
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins looks on in the first half. -
West Virgnia head coach Bob Huggins yells in the first half. -
West Virgnia head coach Bob Huggins addresses his players during a timeout in the first half. -
West Virgnia's Joe Mazzulla drives against Washington's Venoy Overton.
Share with others:
SYRACUSE, N.Y -- About a month ago, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told his Mountaineers they were on track to become the worst defensive teams he had coached in at least a decade.
The message certainly was received as the Mountaineers have become an absolute nightmare for opposing teams to score against.
The latest victim to wilt in the face of the Mountaineers' defense was Washington, which entered the game as one of the highest-scoring teams left in the NCAA tournament and a team loaded with impressive offensive statistics.
Thursday night, however, the Huskies were turned into puppies by the Mountaineers, who dominated inside to muscle their way to an impressive, 69-56 win in an East Region Sweet 16 matchup at the Carrier Dome.
"Coach Huggins teaches us to play physical, and we play a very aggressive-style defensive basketball," said West Virginia senior Da'Sean Butler. "No matter what happens, he tells us constantly to keep playing defense and keep going hard to the glass and get rebounds.
"We often joke that our best chance of making a shot is missing the first one so we can go get the rebound. Our guys did a great job of getting there, and we always seem to get people there."
The No. 2-seeded Mountaineers (30-6) will play No. 1 seed Kentucky, a 62-45 winner against Cornell, at 7 p.m. Saturday with a trip to the Final Four on the line.
It is the Mountaineers' second trip to the Elite Eight since 2005, but that group was coached by John Beilein.
"This has been a long journey for [the seniors]," Butler said. "We were brought here by a good coach, John Beilein, and have now learned from a great coach. We went from being a team that was picked last in the Big East because of our style of play to a team that wins the Big East tournament and has a chance to get to the Final Four."
The Mountaineers will have a chance to get to the Final Four if they defend and rebound as well as they did against the Huskies, who were clearly frustrated by West Virginia's relentless pressure, physical style of play, size and ability to protect the basket even when Washington was able to penetrate inside.
That frustration was evident by the body language of the Huskies every time a player came up empty on a possession or got a shot blocked. It boiled over to the point that Washington coach Lorenzo Romar drew a technical foul with 8:11 to play for arguing a foul call.
First Published March 26, 2010 12:00 am
