West Virginia Beats Notre Dame to Make 2010 Big East Championship Game

The West Virginia-Notre Dame Game Wasn't Pretty, but Ended with West Virginia in Big East Championship Game

Ryan Christopher DeVault
West Virginia made the 2010 Big East Championship Game. West Virginia beat Notre Dame to make the 2010 Big East Championship Game, and now have a shot to win the Big East Conference Tournament on Saturday. The semifinal match-up between West Virginia and Notre Dame was not pretty though, as both teams struggled to get their offense going. The biggest thing for West Virginia was how well they controlled the rebounding edge in this game, and when it came down to crunch time, they did just enough to make sure that they were on the right side of the final score. Their defense made all the difference, holding Notre Dame below 40% shooting from the field.

The first half ended with West Virginia leading just 23 to 20, and it looked for sure like this was a game that could come down to the final buzzer. As the game progressed, and especially in the last two minutes of regulation, Notre Dame was met with each score by another West Virginia basket. Notre Dame also kept getting opportunities to take the lead, but this was really not their night, as they didn't try hard enough to work star Luke Harangody into enough of the action. He should have been starting the game to begin with, but didn't see action until there was about 12 minutes left in the first half. It didn't really allow him to do what he could with the ball, and West Virginia took advantage.

It was a familiar story for the West Virginia Mountaineers, with Da'Sean Butler willing his team into the 2010 Big East Championship Game. He ended up with 24 points on 9-14 shooting, chipping in seven rebounds and three assists for good measure. Now West Virginia has set-up a great game against Georgetown for the 2010 Big East Championship, and it means that one of the two teams will be getting that automatic bid into the 2010 NCAA Tournament. For West Virginia, they will really have to step up their game to compete with the hot Georgetown team though, because a duplicate performance like their game against Notre Dame won't get it done.

Final Score: West Virginia 53 -- Notre Dame 51

References:

Georgetown Beats Syracuse

Georgetown Beats Marquette

ND-WVU Box

Published by Ryan Christopher DeVault - Featured Contributor in Sports

Born in Seattle, Washington, I am a 31 year old college graduate working in the field of Education and Research. I am also a professional freelance writer and news content provider. I can be reached at...   View profile

1 Comments

Post a Comment
  • Saul Relative 3/12/2010

    You're absolutely right, Ryan. Georgetown is on fire. WVU will have to play a little better tomorrow night to take the Big East. Le't go-o-o-o Mountaineers!

To comment, please sign in to your Yahoo! account, or sign up for a new account.