Smothering Defense Helps WVU Down Monmouth in Myrtle Beach

Thursday, November 15

Conway, S.C.

7:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

1-1

Monmouth

0-4

Monmouth

West Virginia

Photo by: Joe Faraoni ESPN images

Smothering Defense Helps WVU Down Monmouth in Myrtle Beach

November 15, 2018 10:29 PM | Men's Basketball

Box Score WVU-Monmouth Box Postgame Quotes

By: John Antonik

Esa Ahmad scored 16 points and Sagaba Konate added 14 points, eight rebounds and four blocks to lead West Virginia to a 71-53 victory over winless Monmouth Thursday night at Coastal Carolina's HTC Center in Conway, South Carolina.

The Mountaineers, still seeking their identity this year without All-America guard Jevon Carter and 1,000-point backcourt mate Daxter Miles Jr., eventually pulled away from the Hawks in the second half.

WVU (1-1) held Monmouth without a field goal during an eight-minute stretch in the second half to turn a nine-point lead with six and a half minutes remaining into a 17-point advantage with 5:04 left.

Konate's 3 at the top of the key with the shot clock winding down began the spurt, and freshman Jordan McCabe quickly hit another 3 in transition to make it a 15-point game. Chase Harler's layup 35 seconds later following Deion Hammond's missed layup forced Monmouth coach King Rice to call a 30-second timeout.

West Virginia's biggest lead of the game was 22 points with 1:39 remaining.

"We didn't shoot the ball so quick (in the second half)," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said during his post-game radio show about his team's second half turnaround. "We shoot it so quick and when we miss we've got guys running to the goal, the ball goes bouncing over their head and that gives them transition (opportunities) and makes us get too spread. It's not a good formula for us to win."

In the first half, Monmouth had a four-point lead, 27-23, before West Virginia used an 8-4 spurt to tie it at 31. West Virginia scored the final five points of the first half to take a 36-31 halftime lead.

Guard James "Beetle" Bolden, coming off a career-high 21 points in last Friday's season-opening loss to Buffalo, scored 9 on three-of-eight shooting while forward Lamont West failed to score after pouring in a team-high 22 against the Bulls.

"Beetle was not very good to start with but he came in in the second half and played really well," Huggins said.

West Virginia shot 45.7 percent from the floor and just 26.1 percent from 3, the Mountaineers taking half of their 46 shot attempts from behind the arc.

Monmouth (0-4) shot 35.3 percent, turned the basketball over 18 times and had 11 more fouls than field goal attempts. The Mountaineers did a much better job containing the Hawks in the second half.

Hammond was the only Monmouth player to reach double digits with 10.

"We were giving up too much penetration so I told them to gap it more," Huggins explained. "If we gave up something it was going to be a contested 3 – it wasn't going to be a straight-line drive to the basket."

This is the second time these two schools have met, West Virginia also winning the first meeting in Morgantown back on Nov. 14, 2014, 64-54.

Tonight's victory advances West Virginia in the winner's bracket of the Myrtle Beach Invitational to face Western Kentucky tomorrow night at 9 p.m. on ESPNU. The 2-1 Hilltoppers got past Valparaiso 83-71 in the game played here earlier tonight.