Columbia overpowered Washington in their First Four matchup to earn their first ever March Madness win Thursday evening. The Lions were down by 13 at the half and rallied to overpower the Huskies by just three points.
“One thing that definitely stood out to us, or at least me, was their ability to execute in the second half of the game,” said West Virginia’s Sydney Shaw. “Once they settled in, they were really solid.”
Jordan Harrison and JJ Quinerly added the Lions pose a tough team that worked together to come back and win their contest as one.
Second half performances have been something the Mountaineers struggled with this season. Starting out with plenty of energy, their accuracy from the field declined toward the fourth quarter.
“I think they’re very tough. I thought we learned that a year ago when we played Princeton of the Ivy League, just how tough that league is. And just physically, they just battle,” head coach Mark Kellogg said. “They’re an elite offensive rebounding team. One of the top-10 offensive rebounding teams in the country.”
Preparing for their First Round game stumped West Virginia as they did not know their opponent until last night. In the little time they have, Kellogg shared they will need to prepare for Columbia as they have other teams all season.
“Yeah, I think you’re just at this point drawing off previous game plans of teams that have played a similar way. Not that we have a lot of those in our league that play like Columbia does, but we have some,” Kellogg said.
Having a closer destination for their tournament play this season, the Mountaineers hope to attract a decent fanbase to cheer them on. Tip-off for West Virginia’s First Round matchup against Columbia is set for 2:00 p.m. Saturday.
