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WVU Men Resume Play on Sunday
December 12, 2015 07:11 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia resumes play at the WVU Coliseum on Sunday evening against Louisiana Monroe in a non-conference game that will tip off at 5 p.m.
The Warhawks are on a Globetrotters-style tour of the Northeast right now, losing at Kent State, 73-62, on Thursday night and playing at Penn State on Saturday before busing down to Morgantown for Sunday’s game.
UL Monroe shows a 4-3 record following the Akron loss with defeats also coming against Minnesota and Houston.
Six-ten senior forward Majok Denk has played well for UL Monroe in the early going, averaging a team-best 18.3 points and 7.3 rebounds per game, but he did see action in Thursday night’s loss at Akron after suffering a lower leg injury during practice.
Six-nine forward Jamaal Samuel led the Warhawks with 18 points and seven rebounds in the Akron loss and he sports averages of 9.3 points and 4.1 rebounds per game.
Nick Coppola, a 5-foot-11-inch guard, is the only other UL Monroe player averaging double digits at 10.4 points per game. Coppola is also the team leader with nine 3s heading into today’s game in State College.
West Virginia, meanwhile, is looking to get back on the winning track after suffering its first loss of the season on Tuesday night against 10th-ranked Virginia in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
The 7-1 Mountaineers played exceptional basketball for the first 16 minutes of the game, leading Virginia by 12 and forcing the Cavaliers into committing 11 turnovers. But a late first-half Virginia run cut its deficit in half by halftime and then the Cavaliers completely shut down West Virginia’s offense in the second half, allowing WVU to convert only six second-half field goal attempts, most of those coming from backup guard Jaysean Paige on drives to the basket.
Paige led the Mountaineers with 16 points.
Starting guards Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. struggled mightily on Tuesday night, the duo combining to make just 2 of their 11 field goal attempts for a total of eight points. Both were averaging double figures heading into the game.
West Virginia forward Devin Williams also struggled to handle Virginia’s baseline double teams, committing a team-high five turnovers and ending the night with just 10 points and three rebounds before fouling out.
“We had 20 deflections in the first half, which means we were really active, got our hands on balls and we caused 10 turnovers in the first 15 minutes and in the second half they score 18 of their (27) baskets in the paint on lay-ins, we did a very, very poor job of fortifying the rim; we did a bad job of help, we did a bad job of staying in line – we did a bad job of everything that we’ve preached day in and day out,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Williams leads West Virginia with averages of 17.6 points and 9.8 rebounds per game, while Miles (12.1 ppg.), Carter (11.4 ppg.), senior forward Jonathan Holton (10.0 ppg.) and senior guard Jaysean Paige (10.0 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
It will be interesting to see what adjustments Huggins will make to his team on Sunday coming off its first loss of the season.
“We’ve got to go back and start from the beginning and you can’t progress when you are going over the elementary things you have to do in order to advance,” explained Huggins.
West Virginia Media affiliates WBOY (Clarksburg), WOWK (Charleston), WTRF (Wheeling), WVNS (Beckley) and WJAL (Chambersburg, Pa.) will televise the game statewide with Rob King, Warren Baker and Robby Incmikoski handling the call.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s radio coverage begins at 4 p.m. leading into game coverage with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs at 4:30 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
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