No. 7 seed West Virginia, in a battle between two of the deepest conferences, Big East vs. ACC, has managed to send one of the most prestigious basketball programs in college basketball history, the No. 2 seed Duke BlueDevils, back home and benched for the rest of the NCAA tournament.

Taking the game 73-67 and leading by as much as 13 in the second half, West Virginia made their head coach Bob Huggins proud to advance to the sweet sixteen no only because this is Huggins’ first year as Head Coach of the Mountaineers but the team accomplished an upset on the home court of Huggins’ Alma Mater, Georgetown.

 

 “Playing in the Big East tournament makes every tournament seem like nothing to you, really,” said Mountaineers’ Joe Alexander.  “Playing in the Big East every day gets you tougher and you play the best competition in the country.  There’s really nothing that you’re afraid of and nothing that you’re not ready to face and everybody saw that tonight as we played an ACC school and not only held our own but went well beyond that,” Alexander added on WVU’s win.

Starting off the game behind 4-0, Duke began the team’s first half rally coming back to take the lead 5-4 at 17:02 on a jumper from Duke’s only senior, DeMarcus Nelson.  Running with the momentum, Duke took an 8 point lead on two free throws by Jon Scheyer at 12:35.  

WVU, a powerhouse force with Joe Alexander, one of the best players in the nation, on their side, would keep the game close, rallying back to within 5 to end the first half 34-29.

Duke came out looking powerful in the second half and started the scoring immediately on a dunk by Gerald Henderson to up their lead 36-29.  A jumper from WVU’s Da’Sean Butler and a three from Darris Nichols brought the Mountaineers to within 3 of Duke, 37-34 less then four minutes past the start of the second half.

A three pointer from WVU’s Alex Ruoff at 15:10 tied the game at 37, with high scoring Alexander nabbing the lead back for the first time since early in the first half for the Mountaineers on a drive to the hoop for the lay-up.  

Duke would manage to tie the game at 40 less than a minute later but WVU would make a 7 point run to put them back in the lead with 11:50 left to go in the game.

Shutting down the team that is known for their outside shooting, WVU managed to silent the BlueDevils beyond the three point arc, Duke shooting 22.7% going 5-22 for three pointers.

“Four of their five losses they held under eight 3’s,” said Coach Huggins, “and we thought that was key.  One loss they had 15.  We thought it was they how many 3’s they get off.  The thing they do so great, and Mike [Krzyzewski] has done such a great job over the years they do make 3’s and they get to the foul line more than their opposition does.  When you make 3’s and you get people spread, then their drivers can drive the ball at the basket.  You have to pick your boys, and we really wanted to do a better job not letting them score from behind the three.”

The Mountaineers advanced to their biggest lead of the game 55-68 on two free throws from Joe Mazzulla that would rattle Duke for the rest of the game sending WVU on to their 73-68 upset.

WVU grabbing down 19 offensive rebounds while Duke could only pull in 7 shut out the BlueDevils; the total difference between the two teams in today’s duel.

“It comes down to checking your guys out,” said Duke’s Henderson of the Mountaineers rebounding for the day.

Alexander, the star sophomore, was unable to be silenced, leading WVU with 22 points and 11 rebounds.

“Alexander, even though he took 22 shots to make 22 points,” said Duke Head Coach Mike Krzyzewski, “he puts a lot of pressure on you.  He has that star quality that in certain exchange where you need to score, you need to get fouled or whatever, he can get you a shot and wants to do that.”

Helping their teammate Joe Alexander, Alex Ruoff put down 17 points and Joe Mazzulla, playing his heart out for his Mountaineer team, ended the game with 13 points and 11 rebounds.

“The rest of the guys are really good players,” Krzyzewski said of the rest of the WVU players after commenting on Alexander.  “Ruoff hits open shots.  The real story though, is Mazzulla.  That kid was fabulous.  He looked like a mini Jason Kidd out there, getting rebounds and assists and points and toughness, not to overshadow other kids on their team.  But the star on that court today was No. 3 [Mazzulla].  I told him that when we shook hands.  To see a kid who doesn’t start give that kind of performance in the NCAA Tournament is remarkable.  That’s what makes the tournament so good, too, you get to see these kids do that.”

Duke was led by Gerald Henderson who netted 18 points, Jon Scheyer with 15 and point guard Greg Paulus with 13.

This was the second year in a row that the Duke BlueDevils were ousted of the NCAA Tournament early, not making it to the second round last year in a shocking first round loss.

West Virginia advances on to the Sweet Sixteen next weekend playing the winner from today’s second game at the Verizon Center, Ohio’s Xavier University.