MORGANTOWN -
West Virginia found its hero in the unlikeliest of places to
knock off Virginia Tech.
In the most significant action of his career, Kevin Noreen
rewarded his coaches' faith by putting in numbers that to this point in his
three years had never been seen.
Career-highs in minutes, points, shot attempts and makes,
rebounds, blocked shots and surprisingly wet 3-pointers told much of the story
in the 68-67 win as Noreen's play energized the building.
Drenched the way a man with the nickname "Big Sweat" should be,
Noreen entered the postgame interviews as the hot commodity after his
performance against the Hokies.
"This is probably my best game of my college career by far,"
Noreen said. "It was just one of those days. Going into it, Coach [Bob Huggins]
was saying we need this win. This was supposed to be our springboard for the
rest of the season. This was a make or break game for us and, I don't know, I
must have taken that intrinsically and translated it onto the court."
He wasted little time in seizing his opportunity, with the
first of his 12 rebounds and a blocked shot within the initial two minutes that
he played. With eight boards on the offensive glass, Noreen kept possessions
alive and allowed the Mountaineers to hang with a team that ranked third
nationally in scoring offense.
But it was when Noreen began making baskets of his own that
the crowd really began to embrace just how strong of a showing he was putting
on and their response was fitting to what the sophomore gave them on the court.
With six points at the half, it was clear Noreen was onto
something. But when he brought the 3-point shot out of his arsenal and nailed
his first two attempts in the second half, it seemed as though he could do no
wrong.
"I get on him for not doing things like not shooting the
ball. You can't imagine how many shots the kid takes [in practice]," Huggins
said after the game.
While they were just the second, third and fourth 3-pointers
of Noreen's career in college, they were nothing new to the 6-foot-10 forward.
As Minnesota's all-time high school scoring leader, the sight of the ball
falling through the net had become old hat. It was just the first time he put
it all together like this at the collegiate level.
"Not many people know this, [but] I'm the third career all-time
3-point makes in Minnesota," Noreen says, flashing back to his days in
Minneapolis. "It's in my pedigree, I just finally brought it out."
His teammates have been waiting for him to bring it out
because they've seen it so often in practice. When he gets on a run, the bench
goes wild.
"I think it does more for my team than it does for myself,"
Noreen said of his strong play early. "If you notice, I made a couple of those
shots and you see the bench go crazy and that's what we want. It gets everybody
else involved and we're back in the game and it gets the bench alive and the
guys on the floor are more enthusiastic."
Huggins says that in his entire career, he may never have
had a player who puts in more time on his own in order to perfect his game. He
recalls a time when he was recruiting Noreen that the high school kid asked him
if he could really play at WVU. Huggins said then that it was completely up to
him and if he put in the work necessary to succeed, he would.
That extra work has not been lost on the other players who
step on the practice court with Noreen each day.
"Noreen, he's not the most talented guy, but he is the hardest
worker on our team by far," freshman guard Eron Harris said. "Everybody tries
to reach him as far as working hard and when you see him doing well and you
know it's because he works hard, so we all feed off of that."
Harris says that his own three in the second half was made
possible by the confidence he got from watching Noreen sink his own shots. He
says the same about the play center Aaric Murray put together. When Noreen is
on, the rest of the Mountaineers say it is more like what they've grown
accustomed to from the big man.
"Maybe to the rest of the world, it's not expected, but to
us, that's expected," said Murray. "Sweat works hard. I'm talking about he
works hard. All we need is for him to
get his confidence to let it go and just play and you see what happens. Hard
works pays off and he works the hardest."
The crowd acknowledged it. Chants of "Kevin Noreen" rang
down from the student section at various points throughout the game. He says he
noticed it and it was a new feeling in his third year. Now, the onus is on
Noreen to keep it up as the season wears on.
"I'm just so happy that I was able to help out the team,"
Noreen said. "I pretty much go into every practice saying I don't want to let
other guys down. That's really my mindset when I play. Hopefully I can continue
this."
The Mountaineers could be a decidedly different team if he
can.
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