WVU concludes rough January: Loss at Rutgers made Mountaineers 2-7 in month

PISCATAWAY, N.J. - At first the "hip, hip, hooray" might seem outof place.

Maybe some of the Coke toasts on the plane ride back toPittsburghseem inappropriate. Party hats and noise makers, well, it does notseem right.

Yet West Virginia University's basketball team, despite Sundayafternoon's 87-61 thumping by host Rutgers, has reason to celebrate.January is over."It was rough," WVU forward John Oliver said. "We had a lot ofroad games. We'd get home, then go on the road again. Up and down.We lost a whole bunch of games.""It's been the toughest month yet," Mountaineer junior forwardMarcus Goree said. "A lot of games we lost by one, two points.""Sometimes it feels good and bad," WVU guard Lionel Armstead said."It feels bad that we didn't win as many as we should have. You haveto learn from those terrible losses."With a 26-point road pounding that at times seemed even worse, WVUf inished a 2-7 January. The schedule contained three home games -against probable NCAA participants Connecticut, Miami (Fla.) andVillanova - last week's neutral-site contest with Marshall and roadgames at Syracuse, Providence, Seton Hall, Georgetown and Rutgers.Of all the foes, only Georgetown does not have a winning record.If there was a tougher schedule than the one rebuilding WVU (9-12, 3-8 in Big East) attempted, it belonged to a rap group that decided totour Utah.Making matters worse in the month's finale was the fact WVU endedDecember with a 65-63 comeback win over Rutgers in Morgantown. Withfive days off since their previous game, the Scarlet Knights (14-6,6-4), in a rare position of NCAA Tournament contenders, basicallylaid in wait for the rematch. Greeting WVU was the fifth sellout of1998-99 at the 8,500-seat Louis Brown Athletic Center."I feel relieved," Rutgers freshman center Rashod Kent said. "Weknew we could beat this team as long as we ran our offense andplayeddefense."Perhaps thrown by the refreshing national anthem of guitar-strumming United States/former Rutgers soccer player Alexi Lalas,WVUfailed to score on its first eight possessions and never led.Rutgers jumped to leads of 8-0, 13-4, 30-12, 40-16 and 51-24 atintermission. The crowd of 8,503 developed blue-and-gold blood lust.Fueling the decibels was the, well, perfect game of senior forwardRob Hodgson. He made 11-of-11 from the field, including his six 3-point tries. He also sank his three free throws, added fiverebounds, three assists, two steals and a block. The only stain onthe statistical sheet of his career-high 31-point day was aturnover."We were leaving shooters open that we knew we couldn't," Oliversaid."We were supposed to guard him and we didn't," WVU Coach GaleCatlett said.Rutgers hit 10-of-19 3-pointers and shot 53 percent (28-of-53)from the field. Junior guard Earl Johnson added 10 points for theScarlet Knights, who have won four straight. Against early WVUpressure, Rutgers continually found Hodgson behind the defense fordrives or open 3-pointers."We changed our press attack," said Hodgson, who made just acombined 12-of-35 from the field in his previous five games. "Thatstarted me early."Hodgson's biggest shot came with 2:18 left when he defended hisspotless afternoon with a final 3-pointer."Everyone knows how hard Rob is on himself," Rutgers forward JeffGreer said. "I was coming on the fast breaks saying, 'Where's Rob?Where's Rob?' "WVU barely managed a whimper, a la earlier games with Connecticutand a December road bashing at Ohio University.Goree led the Mointaineers in both scoring (19) and rebounding(seven). Point guard Jarett Kearse, who earned three fouls in thefirst 9:48, finished with 14 points and center Chris Moss 10. WVUshot just 41 percent. Its last 50 percent-plus effort came in thefirst Rutgers game. Forward Elton Scott and the recently hotArmstead combined to score nine points on 4-of-13 shootingIn an effort to halt the Rutgers tsunami, Catlett used 10 playersin the first half. That had an opposite influence on WVU's offense,which committed 16 turnovers. Rutgers committed just four in thehalf against a defense that enveloped it in December's rally."Once you break the press a few times, they slow back off," Greersaid. "They didn't play as hard as they did in Morgantown.""I considered leaving at halftime," Catlett said. "It wasn't verypretty from where I sat."The best news for WVU was that February appears kinder. Four ofthe seven games, including Wednesday night's with Providence, arehome. Five of the seven contests are against those, like WVU, in thebottom half of the Big East standings. Only one game, the Feb. 9game with visiting St. John's, is against a ranked foe."Some guys are frustrated," Oliver said."We don't have," Armstead said, "any choice other than to have abetter month."Writer Mike Cherry can be reached at 348-5170.