UCLA Preview

UCLA Preview

By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com January 20, 2006 GAME NOTES | CBS MAP MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Television’s bright lights will be shining on the West Virginia University basketball program Saturday afternoon when the Mountaineers battle No. 18-rated UCLA at Pauley Pavilion. West Virginia senior Joe Herber leads the team with 94 assists. He is also averaging 9.3 points and 3.9 rebounds per game. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks More than 70 percent of the country will be watching Coach John Beilein’s No. 12-rated West Virginia team play UCLA for the first time in 37 years. CBS (Kevin Harlan and Clark Kellogg) will air the game to virtually the entire country, with small pockets of the south getting the Mississippi State-Vanderbilt game. “This is West Virginia’s first time on CBS (during the regular season) in over 20 years,” said West Virginia coach John Beilein. “Every opportunity for us to be on TV is good.” West Virginia (13-3) heads to Los Angeles with an 11-game winning streak – the school’s longest since capturing 22 in a row in 1989. Most recently, WVU defeated Providence 64-48 on Tuesday night behind Mike Gansey’s 18 points and Kevin Pittsnogle’s 16 points and 11 rebounds. “We’re so fortunate right now that after a 2-3 start that we’ve been able to either have very good scheduling or have the ball bounce our way several times,” Beilein said of his team’s current 11-game winning streak. “It certainly beats the other when I think we were 1-4 after a five games last year.” Pittsnogle and his wife Heather are expecting their first child with a due date around Feb. 1, and WVU officials have already made provisions through the NCAA to get him back to Martinsburg, W.Va., for the birth of the couple’s first child should it happen. “God has a plan that we can’t really predict,” said Beilein, who says his main focus is on making sure Pittsnogle is back in time for the delivery. “(Basketball) pales in comparison to what Kevin and his wife are about to enjoy.” Beilein admits that he hopes Pittsnogle is “distracted like crazy.” “This is a pretty big event,” Beilein said. “During practice we have cell phones that the managers carry around. It’s going to be a distraction and it should be. We want Kevin and Heather to have a healthy baby -- we’d prefer that much more than a healthy game.” Pittsnogle ranks second in the Big East in scoring with an average of 20.6 points per game. The 6-foot-11-inch center recently moved into 14th place on the school’s career scoring list with 1,400 points. Gansey is not far behind Pittsnogle, averaging 19.6 points per game to rank fourth in the conference. The 6-foot-4-inch forward had a career-high 33-point performance last Saturday against Marquette and is shooting an incredible 62.2 percent from the floor. Joining Pittsnogle and Gansey in West Virginia’s starting lineup are 6-5 forward Frank Young, 6-6 guard Joe Herber and 5-11 guard J.D. Collins. Young has reached double figures in five of his last seven games and is averaging 8.8 points per game, while Herber is averaging 9.3 points and 5.9 assists per game. Herber has started all 111 games of his career. Collins posts averages of 4.6 points and 3.7 assists per game and recently moved into 10th place on the school’s career assists list with 336. Six-four senior Patrick Beilein (8.7 ppg., 2.1 rpg.), 6-2 sophomore guard Darris Nichols (2.9 ppg., 1.2 rpg.) and 7-foot center Rob Summers (0.6 ppg., 0.6 rpg.) are West Virginia’s top three players off the bench. UCLA coach Ben Howland has had to navigate through some tough injuries to steer his Bruin team to a 15-3 overall record. Six-five guard Arron Afflalo is UCLA’s leading scorer averaging 18.3 points per game. The sophomore is shooting 51.9 percent from the floor and has made a team-best 44 3-point field goals. Six-two guard Jordan Farmer is averaging 12.8 points per game and leads the team with 98 assists, while freshman forward Luc Richard Mbah a Moute is averaging 8.2 points and 8.7 rebounds per game. Three key UCLA players have been out of the lineup in forward Cedric Bozeman (shoulder), forward Josh Shipp (hip) and center Lorenzo Matta (broken leg). According to the Los Angeles Times, Bozeman has been cleared to begin practicing and is expected to make a return to the court sometime next week. UCLA’s three losses have come against Memphis (88-80), California (68-61) and at home to Washington (69-65) last Saturday. “UCLA is not only a very good team but all of the travel involved it’s going to be a challenge. But I think we sort of like it that way,” said Beilein. The last time West Virginia traveled to UCLA back on Dec. 21, 1968, the Mountaineers were blown out 95-56 by a No. 1-rated Bruin team led by All-American center Lew Alcindor (Kareem Abdul-Jabbar). “This is an opportunity to travel across the country to play a storied program,” said Beilein. “Win or lose, we’re going to take something out of this.” Saturday’s game is set to tip off at 3:45 pm. It’s one of two non-league games for West Virginia coming up. Following the UCLA game, West Virginia faces Marshall in Charleston on Wednesday night in the Toyota Capital Classic. There are no tickets remaining for that game.