West Virginia’s frenetic pace was on display from the opening tip as the Mountaineers produced a dominating 88-63 win over Virginia Tech on Wednesday afternoon at Cassell Coliseum in Blacksburg, Va.
The Mountaineers led for practically the entire game with the contest only being tied at the opening tip and at 2-2. West Virginia’s full-court pressure turned Virginia Tech over 22 times and capitalized on those mistakes with 26 points.
Jevon Carter led four double-digit scorers with 18 points on eight-of-10 shooting. Carter has now registered double-digit scoring totals in nine games this season and in each of his last four games.
“He played well. He sprained his ankle and wanted to get back in, but I didn’t see any sense in putting him back in with an ankle,” Huggins said. “He actually did it yesterday and most guys go in and lay on the training table and make a miraculous recovery the next day. I told him to go in there and let Doc (Randy Meador) look at it and he goes, “No it will be alright, I’ll just walk it off.” He just kept jumping up and down on it and walking it off and next thing I know he’s out there running around.”
Jonathan Holton picked up a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds, while Jaysean Paige and Tarik Phillip came off the bench to score 17 points and 12 points, respectively. Holton has four double-doubles this season.
“His attitude was so much better,” Huggins said of Holton. “I say this and I start thinking about I was never going to be like my dad, but that is all my dad ever talked about; your attitude, your attitude, your attitude. He’s exactly right, when your attitude is good, you play pretty good. When your attitude isn’t good, you don’t play so good.”
West Virginia (11-1) wore down Virginia Tech (8-5) throughout the contest on the boards, finishing with a 42-24 rebounding advantage. WVU also scored 46 points in the paint and had 16 second-chance points.
Leading 46-36 at the half, the Mountaineers went on a 22-8 run to start the second half and held a 24-point lead with 13:22 remaining in the contest. The Mountaineers’ largest lead of 26 came with 4:46 left.
Shane Henry paced the Hokies with 12 points, while Zach LeDay had 11 points and nine rebounds. Seth Allen added 10 points. Virginia Tech shot 47.4 percent from the floor, and was just 6-of-18 in the second half.
“We didn’t have to, but we went zone because they were just going to put their head down and drive it and try to go to the foul line, which they did quite frequently,” Huggins said.
West Virginia will now begin Big 12 play on the road at Kansas State on Saturday at noon. The game will be televised on ESPNU.
“Kansas State is playing really, really well,” Huggins said. “They did what we did, you add some malcontents and they went elsewhere and you think you’re not going to be as good and you end up being so much better because you have everybody on the same page.”
The Wildcats are now 10-2 following yesterday’s 75-47 win over Saint Louis.
