West's 15 Sinks Pembroke
November 05, 2010 10:36 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Jonnie West came off the bench to score 15 points to lead West Virginia to an 87-53 exhibition game victory over UNC Pembroke Friday night at the WVU Coliseum.
West, who rejoined the team just a few weeks ago after initially opting to forgo his fifth season of eligibility to concentrate on graduate school, hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range and handed out an assist in 18 minutes of action.
“I think Jonnie is playing with a lot more confidence,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “Jonnie just has to continue to try to work on his defense and honestly, he’s done a pretty good job. Jonnie may not be in as good of physical condition as some of the guys and he got really sore and kind of let up a little bit.”
Deniz Kilicli contributed 13 points, Kevin Jones added a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and John Flowers and Casey Mitchell scored 11 each.
“I was hoping we’d play a little better,” said Huggins. “I thought we’d run offense a little bit better. In a contained situation we run it pretty good but when we get going up and down the floor we just don’t run any offense. We’re going to have to get a whole lot better at it in a very short period of time.”
West Virginia led Pembroke 49-27 at halftime and held the Braves to just 34 percent from the floor for the game. UNC Pembroke got 10 points from Shahmel Brackett.
WVU had a 51-34 advantage on the glass and forced 21 turnovers although the Mountaineers committed 14 themselves, 10 coming in the first half.
Overall, Huggins said his team will have to step it up when the games start to count next week.
“I got very into the game because I have this thing – and I don’t know whether it’s good or bad – that I can’t watch the guys not play hard and I’ve always been like that,” he said. “I was OK until we stopped playing. We’ve got good guys – really good people – but sometimes good people need kicked in the pants.”
West Virginia will have a week to prepare for Oakland in the season opener next Friday night at the Coliseum. Oakland was predicted to win its conference after advancing to NCAA tournament play last season.
“Oakland is pretty good,” said Huggins. “We’re going to have to play worlds better or it’s going to be hard on us next Friday. They play other good teams so they are not going to come in here and be in awe of us. We’ve just got to do a better job.”
The game will be televised on ESPN3.com and will tip off at 9 p.m.
West, who rejoined the team just a few weeks ago after initially opting to forgo his fifth season of eligibility to concentrate on graduate school, hit 5 of 8 from 3-point range and handed out an assist in 18 minutes of action.
“I think Jonnie is playing with a lot more confidence,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “Jonnie just has to continue to try to work on his defense and honestly, he’s done a pretty good job. Jonnie may not be in as good of physical condition as some of the guys and he got really sore and kind of let up a little bit.”
Deniz Kilicli contributed 13 points, Kevin Jones added a 12-point, 10-rebound double-double and John Flowers and Casey Mitchell scored 11 each.
“I was hoping we’d play a little better,” said Huggins. “I thought we’d run offense a little bit better. In a contained situation we run it pretty good but when we get going up and down the floor we just don’t run any offense. We’re going to have to get a whole lot better at it in a very short period of time.”
West Virginia led Pembroke 49-27 at halftime and held the Braves to just 34 percent from the floor for the game. UNC Pembroke got 10 points from Shahmel Brackett.
WVU had a 51-34 advantage on the glass and forced 21 turnovers although the Mountaineers committed 14 themselves, 10 coming in the first half.
Overall, Huggins said his team will have to step it up when the games start to count next week.
“I got very into the game because I have this thing – and I don’t know whether it’s good or bad – that I can’t watch the guys not play hard and I’ve always been like that,” he said. “I was OK until we stopped playing. We’ve got good guys – really good people – but sometimes good people need kicked in the pants.”
West Virginia will have a week to prepare for Oakland in the season opener next Friday night at the Coliseum. Oakland was predicted to win its conference after advancing to NCAA tournament play last season.
“Oakland is pretty good,” said Huggins. “We’re going to have to play worlds better or it’s going to be hard on us next Friday. They play other good teams so they are not going to come in here and be in awe of us. We’ve just got to do a better job.”
The game will be televised on ESPN3.com and will tip off at 9 p.m.
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