Butler's 21 Boosts WVU
January 23, 2010 05:08 PM | General
January 23, 2010
BOX SCORE | PHOTOS
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - It was Hot Rod’s basket that did it for the Mountaineers. West Virginia outscored Ohio State 43-25 in the second half to defeat the 21st-rated Buckeyes, 71-65, at the WVU Coliseum on Saturday.
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| Da'Sean Butler scored 21 points and grabbed eight rebounds to lead No. 12 West Virginia to a 71-65 victory over Ohio State Saturday at the WVU Coliseum.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
West Virginia legend Hot Rod Hundley had his jersey number 33 officially retired by the school at halftime with the Mountaineers trailing the Buckeyes by 12. At the end of his ceremony, Hundley took one more shot for the crowd, a right-handed hook from the corner, and it went in to a standing ovation.
“They told me (Hundley) left at halftime,” joked West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who knew about Hundley’s shot right after the game. “He was already in the locker room and he told everybody about it."
West Virginia (15-3) scored 12 of the first 14 points of the second half to get back into the game. A Truck Bryant 3 tied it at 52, and then the Mountaineers took their first lead of the game, 57-54, with 8:56 remaining on a Da’Sean Butler 3.
Another Butler 3 with 6:27 to go pushed the lead to four, 62-58, and two Butler free throws and a Mazzulla driving layup with 3:42 remaining got the lead to seven, 68-61.
West Virginia’s biggest lead was eight points, 69-61, following Butler’s free throw with 2:57 left.
It was a completely different West Virginia team in the second half from the one that couldn’t do anything against Ohio State’s 1-3-1 zone.
“We thought they’d play more man and they came out and played the 1-3-1 – probably because we haven’t shot the ball very well,” said Huggins. “We didn’t attack it very well.”
Huggins decided to attack the 1-3-1 with a two-guard look.
“We were initially going to go 1-4 against it but we did such a poor job with the 1-4, so I thought we’d be better off with the two guards out there,” Huggins explained. “We went 2-1-2 into what we call ‘pop’ and Da’ just got too high in the first half. I told him to start lower and just find the gaps and he’s really good at finding gaps.
“When he didn’t get it they had to overcompensate which opens up some other guys and then Truck made some big shots for us in the second half,” Huggins said.
The Buckeyes (14-6) scored the game’s first eight points and led by as many as 14 twice at 29-15 and 31-17. Evan Turner, who made all six of his field goals in the first half, finished 6 of 17 from the field for 18 points.
“Devin (Ebanks) did a heck of a job in the second half on Turner,” said Huggins. “I thought that was really important for us because when Devin could single-cover him … we got in trouble in the first half because we had to over help. It was just a much better effort on our guys’ part (in the second half).”
Last year against the Mountaineers, Ohio State’s star player Turner was just 4 of 17 shooting in a 76-48 WVU victory.
William Buford picked up the slack for the Buckeyes, making 9 of 13 from the floor and finishing with a game-high 22 points.
“He made great shots,” Huggins said of Buford.
Jon Diebler added 11 for Ohio State.
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| All-American Hot Rod Hundley makes one more for the crowd Saturday following his jersey retirement ceremony.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
Butler scored 21 points, grabbed eight rebounds and handed out five assists for West Virginia. Bryant finished with 14 and Wellington Smith added 11.
Kevin Jones nearly missed a double-double with 9 points and 11 rebounds.
Three key stats decided the game for the Mountaineers: +8 in shots, +9 in rebounding and +6 in assists.
Late in the game, West Virginia had an opportunity to either push the lead out to double digits or run more clock but a couple of missed shots off of offensive rebounds with a fresh shot clock gave Ohio State more possessions to get back into the game.
“We didn’t manage the game very well,” Huggins said. “We got what we wanted with KJ and he misses the layup. Then we kind of bounce it around and he gets possession of it and all we’ve got to do is get it back out and run more clock.
“We didn’t do a very good job of that,” said Huggins. “And then Joe (Mazzulla), I don’t know where he was going? He was in a hurry to get somewhere and they fouled him. We’re going to have to spend some time working on that.”
A crowd of 15,033 was at today’s game. It is the first time in school history West Virginia has played back-to-back games before more than 15,000 at the Coliseum (15,271 attended last Saturday’s game against Syracuse). It is just the ninth time in school history that West Virginia has had more than 15,000 for a game at the Coliseum.
West Virginia has won back-to-back games against its Ohio neighbor and seven of the last eight since 1982. The Buckeyes won the first eight times these two schools met from 1941-81.
The Mountaineers return to Big East action on Tuesday night when they face DePaul in Chicago. That game will be televised on the Big East Network.
