WVU's Season Ends in Cleveland
March 27, 2015 12:25 AM | General
CLEVELAND – West Virginia’s NCAA Tournament run ended in Cleveland, Ohio tonight. Kentucky showed why it is the top-seeded team in the tournament with a convincing 78-39 victory over the Mountaineers at Quicken Loans Arena.
West Virginia, making its first Sweet 16 appearance since beating Kentucky to reach the Final Four in 2010, saw first hand why the Wildcats are the best defensive team in the country.
"They were what I thought they were. I thought they were the best defensive team in the country," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "That's the best defensive team I think I've ever coached against. When they're making shots, and they made shots today, there is nobody going to beat them when they make shots like that."
"They played great defense on us, which made it hard for us to even set up our defense because we've got to score in order to get in our defense," added guard Juwan Staten. "Then they came down on the other end and shot the ball well."
The Wildcats came into tonight’s game allowing opposing teams to shoot just 35.1 percent from the floor.
Tonight, the Mountaineers shot 24.1 percent.
Kentucky came into tonight’s game giving up only 53.9 points per game.
Tonight, West Virginia scored 39 – tying the 39 it scored against Cincinnati in 2008 as the second fewest points scored in a game in the last 54 years.
The 39-point defeat was the worst in 53 NCAA Tournament games for West Virginia, the Mountaineers exceeding their 34-point loss to LaSalle in their first-ever tournament appearance in 1955.
"We couldn't score, which was my biggest fear was that we would have a hard time scoring," said Huggins. "You watch the film and nobody scores around the basket against them. The teams that have given them a decent game were the ones who could make enough shots to get them spread."
At one point in the first half West Virginia nearly had as many fouls as field goals and midway through the second half Kentucky still had more blocked shots (6) than West Virginia had made field goals (5).
Kentucky’s great size, length and athleticism forced the Mountaineers to begin almost every offensive possession well beyond the 3-point line, and many times West Virginia was unable to get a shot off until late in the shot clock.
And when they did get the ball close to the basket Kentucky’s bigs were able to alter almost every shot West Virginia attempted.
Trey Lyles led five double-figure scorers with 14 points, Andrew Harrison scored 13, brother Aaron Harrison, Devin Booker and Dakari Johnson had 12 each.
Kentucky (37-0) began the game on an 18-2 run before a second Staten jumper ended West Virginia’s scoreless drought with 11:18 remaining in the half. It was originally called a 3 but was later changed to a 2 when officials reviewed a replay of the shot when there was a stoppage of play.
Forward Jonathan Holton followed with a lay up to give West Virginia its only consecutive baskets of the first half.
After a Holton free throw reduced Kentucky’s lead to 20-7, the Wildcats went on another 14-4 flurry to push its lead to 23, 34-11, with 5:21 to go.
Dakari Johnson’s jumper with 1:52 left gave Kentucky its biggest lead of the first half at 27.
In the second half, it was more of the same – West Virginia finding it difficult to get anything close to the rim and settling for hurried shots late in the shot clock. It wasn’t until 11:42 left that Jevon Carter finally ended the Mountaineers’ second-half field goal drought with a driving layup.
Kentucky continues its quest to become the first team since Indiana to finish the year undefeated when it plays Notre Dame in the Midwest Regional championship game on Saturday.
Notre Dame defeated Wichita State in tonight’s first game.
Juwan Staten led West Virginia with 14 points. He ends his outstanding three-year career at WVU 26th in scoring with 1,260 points and sixth in assists with 433.
The Mountaineers’ other senior in tonight’s game, Gary Browne, scored one point and pulled down four rebounds. He finishes his career with 804 points, 241 assists and 356 rebounds.
"I think we put West Virginia basketball back on the map," said Staten. "Coach Huggs has always had great teams - teams that are used to being in the NCAA Tournament; used to winning games. For a while we got away from that, so just to get back to this spot, to be in the Sweet 16, means that we got a special thing. We only have a couple of seniors so the bulk of the team is coming back. You can definitely look forward to them being in the tournament for years to come."
The Mountaineers conclude their season with a 25-10 record, an eight-win improvement over last year’s 17-16 record. West Virginia has three starters and eight key contributors coming off the bench returning for 2016.
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