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Mountaineers Claim Las Vegas Invite Title
November 28, 2015 01:39 AM | Men's Basketball
Earlier this year, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was asked when he thought his team was finally going to get some love from the writers in the top 25 college basketball poll.
Well, it should be coming after tonight’s impressive 72-50 victory over San Diego State in the championship game of the Continental Tire Las Vegas Invitational at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas.
The Mountaineers, ranked 22nd this week in the coaches’ poll but unranked by the media, harassed the super athletic Aztecs all night, forcing 21 San Diego State turnovers and limiting them to just 13 made field goals, including a goose egg from 3 in nine attempts.
Including yesterday’s 2-of-15 shooting from Richmond behind the arc, WVU’s opponents were just 2-of-24 from 3 during the two games in Vegas.
“I thought we played better as a team today than we have at any time up to this point,” said Huggins afterward.
Tonight, San Diego State had trouble making them from anywhere against West Virginia’s suffocating pressure. After spotting the Aztecs an early 3-0 lead, the Mountaineers turned up the heat and built a six-point lead the second TV timeout midway through the first half. Jaysean Paige scored eight straight points to begin the run, and following the stoppage of play, Nathan Adrian knocked down a 3, Jevon Carter added a short jumper and Adrian got another one close to the basket to give the Mountaineers a 13-point lead.
West Virginia kept its lead in the eight-to-10-point range for the remainder of the first half.
Midway through the second half is when the Aztecs really struggled to score and West Virginia’s lead began to swell.
Devin Williams scored close to the basket on three straight possessions to put West Virginia ahead by 16, 46-30, and the Mountaineers got it to 18 with 10:48 remaining in the game and a Daxter Miles Jr. jumper.
“We needed to play better in our half-court offense and I thought we did today,” said Huggins.
West Virginia (6-0) got contributions from everyone that played, including five reaching double figures led by Miles’ 14 points. Jonathan Holton and Carter scored 12 while Williams and Paige added 10 points each.
Williams’ streak of five straight double-double games ended tonight, however, the junior only managing to pull down nine rebounds.
“The biggest thing was he held the ball too long and we told him they were going to double him,” said Huggins. “Steve Fisher has doubled from the time he became a head coach at Michigan and they’re very good at it and it’s very effective for them. We knew it was coming and our bigs have a tendency of holding the ball too long down there. We’ve just got to catch it and make our move – we don’t always do a great job of feeling the defense and going away from the defense.”
WVU had a 42-28 advantage on the glass and also shot 50 percent in the second half following a frigid first half from the field.
Guard Jeremy Hemsley was the only Aztec player to reach double figures with 14 points.
“That’s as athletic a team as we’re going to see this year,” said Huggins of San Diego State. “I think think we’re going to see too many teams as athletic as they are. We will learn from it and get better at attacking that kind of defense.”
San Diego State reached the championship game by defeating 14th-ranked Cal 72-58 on Friday night. Richmond also defeated the Bears, 94-89, earlier this evening.
Williams, who scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in yesterday’s 67-59 victory over Richmond, was named tournament MVP. Miles Jr. and Carter were selected to the all-tournament team.
The Mountaineers will fly back to Morgantown tonight and have a week to get ready for next Saturday's game against Kennesaw State at the Coliseum that will tip off at 12:30 p.m. and will be televised locally on ROOT Sports.
Kennesaw State is coached by a familiar name – former Rhode Island and Boston College coach Al Skinner, who is now in his 22nd season on the bench and his first leading the Owls.
Tickets for that game and other games are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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