West Virginia Prepares for Texas
This year, however, the Mountaineers (23-9) don’t have to travel as far to face a Texas team, as they were selected to play against Texas on Saturday morning at the Ted Constant Convocation Center in Norfolk, Va., for the first round of the NCAA Tournament. The game marks the first meeting between the teams, who are soon set to become familiar opponents when West Virginia joins the Big 12 next year. “Texas is a top program in the Big 12 and they’ll give us some insight on what types and styles of teams the Big 12 has,” said head coach Mike Carey. “There are a lot of different styles and a lot of different strengths. But it is ironic that we are playing Texas going into the Big 12 next year.” The Longhorns enter their 26th NCAA Tournament as one of 33 teams who received an at-large bid. They’ve had success in the tournament in the past, having advanced to the Final Four on three occasions and having won the National Championship in 1986. Yet the team has struggled in recent years. The last time Texas advanced to the second round was in 2008 when it came into the Tournament as an eight-seed and defeated ninth-seed Minnesota, 72-55. Last year, the Longhorns entered the Tournament as a nine-seed, but fell to eighth-seeded Marquette, 68-65, in the first round in Knoxville, Tenn. All-Big 12 first team selection Chassidy Fussell paves the way for the Longhorns, averaging 16.5 points per game while pulling down 4.5 rebounds per game, the team’s third-highest rebounding average. In addition, Fussell converts 90.5 percent (86-of-95) from the charity line and is the team’s leading 3-point shooter having made 66 threes on 37.7 percent (66-of-175) shooting. Behind her, senior guards Yvonne Anderson and Ashleigh Fontenette each average 11.9 points per game. “Their three leading scorers are their guards,” Carey said. “They push the ball extremely hard and they look to score early in their offense. They have a couple of shooters and they have post players with great size so we’re going to have our hands full. I think we match up really well inside but our guards are very young so we’re going to have to pay close attention to that because their guards are really good.” Defensively, senior point guard Ashley Gayle leads the Longhorns on the boards with 6.6 rebounds per game while also averaging 2.9 blocked shots per game, the 11th-highest average nationally. “This is something unique for us to have to play against posts who are 6-foot-4 and 6-foot-5,” said Ayana Dunning. “I think we’ve been able to prepare for that not only in practice but during the offseason during individual workouts as well. Every day I have to prepare and practice against Asya (Bussie) who’s 6-foot-4 and is a little bit taller than me.” The Mountaineers are making their eighth NCAA Tournament appearance and have advanced to the second round five times under Carey and six times in the history of the program. Junior Asya Bussie leads the team in scoring, averaging 12.2 points per game. She’s now had 20 double-figure scoring games this season alone. She’s followed in both categories by Christal Caldwell, who averages 11.1 points per game and has had 19 double-figure scoring games this season. Sophomore Taylor Palmer rounds out the top three scorers with 10.7 points per game. Defensively, the Mountaineers have held 22 opponents this season to under 60 points and their scoring defense (51.3) ranks as the seventh-best in the nation. Additionally, West Virginia’s defensive field-goal percentage (32.7) is the fourth-lowest nationally while its rebounding margin of +8.7 is the 13th best nationally. Redshirt-junior Dunning paves the way for the Mountaineers on the glass, pulling down 8.4 rebounds per game. She is followed by Bussie who averages 6.7 rebounds per game, and Caldwell who is averaging 5.8 rebounds per game. “We expect Texas to play very, very hard,” Carey concluded. “They’re a very good basketball team and we have a lot of respect for them. They have a great program and they’re well-coached. Our girls will without a doubt come out and play hard. We have a lot more to prove down here.” Saturday’s game will tipoff at 11:10 a.m. and will be broadcast on ESPN2 and ESPN3.com with Mark Jones and Mary Murphy. Live audio and stats along with a full recap will be provided by MSNsportsNET.com. |
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