Three Points: WVU vs. Arizona
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I. Alex Ruoff: Charley West’s momma didn’t raise no dummy. 21 points including five three-pointers, I think it’s fair enough to say Ruoff was the key player tonight.
III. Three-point shooting: In general, Arizona simply refused to extend their defense beyond the three-point line. While they were able to deny the ball to Alexander and frustrate the mid-range game for the most part, they still got hurt on the offensive boards, and they obviously got hurt behind the arc, with WVU hitting 11 of 19. It’s almost as if Arizona believed WVU had forgotten how to nail the three.
III. Let’s Get Physical: I’ve been waiting for a long time to incorporate an Olivia Newton-John song title into my post, and finally here we are! I was surprised with the physical nature of the game, with Arizona’s shallow bench and injury problems, I didn’t expect them to want to make it a street brawl. But they definitely did as was emphasized on the broadcast every two minutes. I really like the way the game was officiated. It was every bit as physical as the UConn game in the Big East tournament, without the 50 fouls being whistled.
Just a short but sweet three points tonight. WVU moves on to face Duke on Saturday, 2:10 Eastern time. Duke haters across the country (which is almost every non-Duke fan) will unite on the Mountaineer bandwagon for this effort.
Tags: Alex Ruoff, March Madness, NCAA tournament, physicality, three point shooting
