WVU Sports
WVU hopes to clinch tourney spot
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia University hopes to clinch a spot in the Big East tournament with a good showing in the final series of the regular season, a three-game set starting Thursday at the University of Cincinnati.
The host Bearcats (33-19, 16-8) have earned one of the eight berths in the double-elimination tournament March 20-24 at Clearwater, Fla. But the Mountaineers (34-16, 13-11) need a win or a Louisville or South Florida loss.
Thursday’s WVU-Cincinnati contest is set for 6:30 p.m. at Marge Schott Stadium. Game two will be played at the same time on Friday, with Saturday’s third meeting at 1 p.m.
The Mountaineers lead the all-time series, 12-8, including 4-1 as Big East members. They first met in 1908 and split two meetings last year in Morgantown.
Matt Yurish (6-1), a 5-2 winner over Louisville at home last Saturday, is expected to pitch for WVU on Thursday. He made the Big East weekly honor roll on Monday.
Michael Hill (4-3) of Cincinnati was named the conference’s Pitcher of the Week. He threw a three-hitter in a 7-1 victory over Seton Hall on Sunday, striking out a career-high 10 batters.
Josh Harrison is the Bearcats’ leading hitter with a .377 batting average. Mike Spina leads the team with 64 RBIs and a .663 slugging percentage.
Shortstop Tyler Kuhn leads the Mountaineers with a .427 batting average, 91 hits and 67 runs. Third baseman Vince Belnome is batting .393 and has 64 RBIs, while second baseman Jedd Gyorko is hitting .413.
- WVU Sports
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FURFARI COLUMN - Huggins: Decision is ‘totally’ up to Ebanks
Speculation continues to circulate on whether West Virginia sophomore Devin Ebanks will return next season or turn professional.
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WVU opens with Morgan State
If West Virginia was looking for some new incentive it got it out of the NCAA draw that took place on Sunday, one day after they rode on Da’Sean Butler’s shoulders to the Big East Tournament championship.
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HERTZEL COLUMN - Tourney provides lifetime of memories
Let us begin this morning with an apology, for the scope of this column really will not allow us to do justice to what follows, for this is a tale that demands a big screen, a director with a human touch and the backdrop of the city that is New York.
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Butler wins another one for WVU
Da’Sean Butler’s latest game-winner wasn’t as dramatic as his first. This one did give West Virginia its first Big East championship.
The senior guard had a net draped around his neck, a brand new championship hat on his head and a special place forever in the hearts of Mountaineer fans.
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HERTZEL COLUMN: Jarrod West relives shot through Butler
Yesterday’s Hero was gathered in front of his television, just as so many of us were on that Thursday night, watching the final seconds tick off as West Virginia and Cincinnati were coming down the stretch, watching Today’s Hero do his thing.
Jarrod West felt like he’d been there before.
And he had.
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HERTZEL COLUMN: Winning ugly working for Mountaineers
It seems everything in sports has a name, something that defines it and gives it an identity all of its own.
Babe Ruth's New York Yankees were “Murderers’ Row” and Magic Johnson’s Los Angeles Lakers were “Showtime.” Before them in Los Angeles there was the magnificent front four of the Rams that came to be known as “The Fearsome Foursome.”
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WVU survives Notre Dame, 53-51
Da’Sean Butler, West Virginia’s last-second hero in the quarterfinals, scored 24 points to lead the seventh-ranked Mountaineers to a 53-51 victory over Notre Dame on Friday night in the Big East tournament semifinals.
Third-seeded West Virginia (26-6) will face eighth-seeded Georgetown in the championship game Saturday night.
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Butler’s 3-pointer at horn lifts WVU
Da’Sean Butler took an inbounds pass and banked in a 3-pointer from the head of the key at the buzzer to give No. 7 West Virginia a 54-51 victory over Cincinnati on Thursday night in the quarterfinals of the Big East tournament.
The third-seeded Mountaineers (25-6) were the only one of the conference’s top four seeds to advance to the semifinals.
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HERTZEL COLUMN: Huggins, Wooden take different paths to victory No. 664
There is going to come a time when college basketball is going to have to wrestle with an interesting situation — whether or not to induct Bob Huggins into the Hall of Fame.
It is a dilemma, you see, for his record far exceeds his reputation, which has taken more than a few hits over the years.
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FURFARI COLUMN: Huggins: Butler a ‘special’ player
Coach Bob Huggins paid tall tribute to West Virginia University star Da’Sean Butler.
“He’s a very special guy,” he said before taking the Mountaineers to New York for the Big East men’s basketball tournament.
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FURFARI COLUMN - Huggins: Decision is ‘totally’ up to Ebanks
