A few minutes before the game, my wife pointed to the jumbotron and noticed the Warriors huddling in the tunnel, and commented that it must be on tape-delay, since they were already on the floor warming up. Wrong. MU came out of the tunnel a few seconds later. We'd been fooled by WVU's practice warmups, which are blue, gold, and white, nearly identical to ours. -- My glasses were fogged up. And the sun was in my eyes. Yeah.
The rest of the game, uniforms aside, was equally confusing, as each team seemed to play, well, opposite of how they have. As I wrote yesterday, WVU is 2nd in the country in scoring defense, and 2nd in 3 pointers made, and played a tough 1-3-1 zone. Honestly, I'd figured this game for a loss with those kind of stats, since the MU had already lost 3 at the Bradley Center fortress.
Fortunately for the MU faithful, I was 100% wrong. Through some Freaky Friday magic, the teams completely exchanged habits. MU was unstoppable behind the arc with 58%. (I'll wait a moment while those of you who didn't watch the game, finish rubbing your eyes. Yes, 58%.) WVU shot 22%. Twenty two. -- MU scored 81 points versus the 2nd best scoring defense in the country. And WVU played zone for most of the game. (Yes, rub your eyes again. MU put up 81 on a zone defense.)
Ooze, Wes, and Jerel all had superlative games, slashing to the basket, breaking down the zone like child's play. DJ got off the schneide going 8 for 17 with 21 points and 5 steals. The Cube went 5 for 5 and had 14 points. To use a phrase from yesteryear, he was money.
Everyone, back on the wagon, it's leaving for Louisville on Monday. The seats are still warm.
Here are some shots I took from my seat.
don't worry, those dang WVU jerseys and warmups also fooled us bandos, who stopped playing a song thinking it was MU coming out of the opposite tunnel when it was, in fact, the Mountaineers. Grrr....
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