WVU Wins at DePaul
February 27, 2008 11:57 PM | General
February 27, 2008
BOX SCORE
ROSEMONT, Ill. - West Virginia survived a 31-point outburst from DePaul's Draelon Burns to defeat the Blue Demons 85-73 Wednesday night at Allstate Arena in Rosemont, Ill.
Burns scored 25 points in the second half including three straight 3s to start the trim West Virginia's 15-point halftime lead to five with 14:06 remaining in the game.
"They kind of lull you to sleep and then all of the sudden they get it up and down the floor three times in a row and make a 3 or two and then take it to the basket," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.
The Mountaineers responded with five straight points on a short jumper by Joe Alexander and a 3 from the wing by Alex Ruoff to take the lead back to 10.
West Virginia used a 21-0 run early in the first half to build a 33-9 lead. DePaul went nearly seven minutes without scoring and the Blue Demons also didn't help themselves at the foul line, where they were just 14 of 33 for the game.
"I thought early on our intensity level was really good and we had them pushed out so far that it was hard for them," Huggins said. "But they did what everybody ends up doing when we take them out of their offense. They tried to take us off the dribble and they did a pretty good job of beating us off the dribble."
Alex Ruoff finished with a team-high 22 points for West Virginia. The junior guard was 6 of 10 overall from the floor including 4 of 7 from 3.
"We thought we could score in transition and we ended up getting some easy baskets," Huggins said.
Joe Alexander scored 17 points on 7 of 9 shooting and Da'Sean Butler finished with 14 points and a career-high 13 rebounds. Butler's previous best on the glass came at South Florida on Jan. 20 when he pulled down 12 boards.
West Virginia shot 52.6 percent from the floor (30 of 57) and made 20 of 26 from the free throw line (76.9 percent).
"We scored 85 on the road and in all honesty we didn't shoot the ball that well," Huggins said. "We got a lot of easy baskets."
DePaul had a slim 37-36 edge on the glass.
Dar Tucker added 15 and Will Walker scored 13 for DePaul, now 10-17, 5-10.
"These guys are going to beat some people," Huggins said. "There are some other teams that I'd rather play."
West Virginia won for the third time on the road in conference play this year and boosts its overall record to 20-8. It is the fourth straight year West Virginia has won 20 games. The Mountaineers also assure themselves of a .500 record in conference play with their ninth victory.
"Anytime you come into this building and win it's a good win," Huggins said. "We're 9-6 in the league with three to go. We need to keep doing what we're doing and get some more road wins."
The win puts West Virginia into sole possession of sixth place in the Big East standings a game ahead of Pitt and Cincinnati.
"I think going on the road and winning like this - I think people will look at this as very favorable," Huggins said.
The Mountaineers travel to Connecticut on Saturday to face the Huskies in a noon game before wrapping up their three-games-in-a-six-day span on Monday night against Pitt at the Coliseum.
