W.Va. Muscles Its Way Forward

In an Inelegant Win, Players Embrace Huggins's Style; Duke Is Up Next : West Virginia 75, Arizona 65

For three consecutive years, West Virginia showed that the cerebral, perimeter game favored by former coach John Beilein could work in March, making two deep NCAA tournament runs and winning last year's National Invitation Tournament.

Beilein is gone, having taken the head job at Michigan, and in his place came hard-nosed taskmaster Bob Huggins and his more rugged approach to the game. That approach worked during Huggins's first regular season in Morgantown, and last night the Mountaineers showed that it might also work in March.

West Virginia's 75-65 win over 10th-seeded Arizona at Verizon Center was rarely elegant, but the seventh-seeded Mountaineers, their celebrity coach and their legions of gold-clad fans will roll on to tomorrow's second round and a meeting with Duke.

To be sure, there were remnants of the old days last night, and not just in the T-shirts fans wore paying tribute to former star Kevin Pittsnogle. The Mountaineers (25-10), whose offense now runs through Joe Alexander in the post, connected on 11 of 19 three-pointers, their most in a month.

"Seemed like the West Virginia of old a little bit," Alexander said.

Still, for significant stretches this was more Big East brawn than Pacific-10 finesse. One first-half sequence went like this: West Virginia double dribble, Arizona missed shot, West Virginia offensive foul, Arizona missed shot, West Virginia travel, Arizona offensive foul. A first-half collision left Wildcats guard Nic Wise prone on the ground; "We don't lie down in the Big East; get up!" screamed one of the thousands of West Virginia partisans who filled the arena.

When West Virginia did get into an offensive flow, it came from dumping the ball inside and then working it back out for open jump shots. Consecutive three-pointers from Darris Nichols and Alex Ruoff stretched a one-point lead into a seven-point lead with three minutes left, and the Wildcats (19-15) never again seriously threatened.

Da'Sean Butler equaled his season high with 19 points, Ruoff had 21, and four players finished in double digits for West Virginia, a notable change from the Big East tournament, where Alexander had almost single-handedly taken care of the offense.

But while past West Virginia teams took advantage of a unique offensive approach in the postseason, players said this one focuses on the other end of the floor.

"We're going to make our mark in this tournament playing our style this year: being physical, being aggressive, making cuts and playing defense," Alexander said. "That's what we're known for, not jacking up threes."

That approach comes from Huggins, the former Cincinnati coach who spent one season in Kansas State, electrifying a sometimes-dormant program before abruptly leaving to join his alma mater. Earlier in the night, as the fans in "Huggstown" T-shirts were still settling in, Huggins's prized recruit Michael Beasley had led the 11th-seeded Wildcats to a win over Southern Cal, the day's biggest upset.

While Kansas State fans still feel jilted over Huggins's departure, the Mountaineers have come to embrace their new coach and his on-court obsessions; "When it comes to March, he knows what to do," Butler said. "Honestly, he led us to this win tonight."

Yesterday Huggins faced off with journeyman coach Kevin O'Neill, who finished off his one year as interim head coach after Arizona Hall of Famer Lute Olson took a leave of absence to deal with personal issues. O'Neill's inherited team struggled with injuries and depth all year; Arizona's bench players logged just 10 minutes last night, and the Wildcats didn't make a field goal in the final 4 minutes 45 seconds. Arizona finished with its most losses in 24 years.

West Virginia, meantime, figures to have another sizable crowd at tomorrow's game. "It's strange, it seems like wherever we play it's a home game, there's always West Virginia fans, I don't know how or why," Alexander said.

And players said that, while their approach might have changed this postseason, their goals haven't.

"It's a different system, as far as what comes first, but it's the same mind-set," Butler said. "Everyone's mind-set is to win, to do what we need to do to win six games and go home happy."