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Today's Win Sets up Big Night on Tuesday
January 09, 2016 03:50 PM | Men's Basketball
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia is now 3-0 to begin Big Conference 12 play for the first time since joining the league back in 2012.
Today, the 17th-ranked Mountaineers defeated Oklahoma State, 77-60, at the WVU Coliseum in front of an announced crowd of 11,219, setting up a very big week for the Mountaineers beginning with Tuesday night’s game against top-ranked Kansas at the WVU Coliseum followed by a trip out to Norman, Oklahoma, to face the second-ranked Sooners on Saturday.
This afternoon, West Virginia (14-1, 3-0) overcame poor shooting (39 percent) and lots of fouls in an otherwise very businesslike 17-point victory over the Cowboys.
“It’s hard to play when there is a stoppage every seven seconds, I think,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, who with today’s victory moves into a tie with Lou Henson for 11th on the NCAA all-time victories list with 779. “It seemed like we’d get going and it would get stopped, then we’d get going again and it got stopped again.”
West Virginia never trailed, led by 12 at halftime and had its biggest lead of 23, 69-46, with 5:31 remaining.
Sophomore guard Jevon Carter led four double-digit scorers with 16 points, senior forward Jonathan Holton contributed 15 points, nine rebounds, three assists and a pair of steals, and Devin Williams added 12 points and nine boards.
Jaysean Paige scored 9 in a starting role in place of regular guard Daxter Miles Jr., who has been slowed with an ankle injury sustained in practice. Miles was dressed and sitting on the bench but did not get on the floor.
WVU’s two leading scorers heading into today’s game, Williams and Paige, finished this afternoon shooting a combined 4 of 19, but others were able to pick up the slack.
“We’re resilient,” said Huggins. “Dax sprained his ankle and didn’t practice for two days and my policy has always been if you don’t practice I can’t play you in the game. It’s not fair to the other guys. I thought Teyvon (Myers) gave us good minutes; I’d wish he’d start shooting it the way I think he’s capable of shooting it, and we got good minutes for a lot of guys.
“Tarik (Phillip) wasn’t near as good as he’s been and Jaysean wasn’t near as good as he’s been, but the other guys stepped up.”
Eleven different players saw action today and 10 got into the scoring column.
WVU had a 40-33 advantage on the glass, forced 16 turnovers and were much better handling the basketball today with only 10 miscues.
Forward Jonathan Holton contributed 15 points and nine rebounds today against Oklahoma State (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo).
Turnovers were a big concern of Huggins’ after Monday night’s eight-point victory over TCU.
Jawun Evans led Oklahoma State, now 9-6, 1-2, with 13 points.
The nation’s attention will now turn to Morgantown for Tuesday night’s game against the Jayhawks. If Kansas can get past Texas Tech later tonight in Lubbock, the Jayhawks will become just the sixth No. 1-ranked team to play in the Coliseum since the facility opened in 1970.
The Mountaineers are 1-4 against No. 1 at the Coliseum, defeating top-ranked UNLV in 1983 and dropping decisions to Temple (1988), UMass (1995) and Connecticut twice in 1999 and 2006.
Huggins said on his postgame radio show that he expects Miles to be ready to go against the Jayhawks, which beat WVU by five at the Coliseum in 2013 before dropping their last two here in 2014, 92-86, and in 2015, 62-61.
Tuesday night’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
There are still tickets remaining for the game and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com or by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME.
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
