Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Touted freshman Oscar Tshiebwe scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds to lead West Virginia to a 78-70 exhibition game victory over Duquesne here at the WVU Coliseum tonight.
 
Tshiebwe gave us a glimpse of what he's capable of doing by shooting 7-of-10 from the floor and grabbing a game-best eight offensive rebounds.
 
Overall, West Virginia had a plus-13 rebounding margin over the Dukes – an area coach Bob Huggins believes could be one of its strengths, but afterward he thought it could have better.
 
"We've got a long way to go," Huggins said.
 
Huggins believes an another area of strength is shooting, where the Mountaineers converted 31 of its 66 field goal attempts for 47 percent. Tshiebwe had a role in this, as did junior college imports Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil. Sherman scored all 8 of his points in the first half on 3-of-5 shooting, while McNeil did most of his damage in the second half with 12.
 
Sophomore forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. was the only other Mountaineer player to reach double figures with 11 points on 5-of-9 shooting.
 
Huggins used a starting lineup tonight consisting of Derek Culver, Tshiebwe, Matthews, Chase Harler and Jordan McCabe. There were instances when he went big with Tshiebwe and Culver on the floor and there were other instances when used a small lineup.
 
"I wanted to get everybody in the game and I wanted to be able to evaluate everybody, not just a play or two, but at least a six- or seven-minute stretch to where we could see what they were doing and where they are," Huggins explained. 
 
The five Huggins had on the floor for the remaining five minutes of the game were sophomore Brandon Knapper, freshman Miles McBride, Matthews, McNeil and Tshiebwe.
 
That's the group that helped West Virginia build its biggest lead of the game at 15, 73-58, with 2:04 remaining.
 
"When they made their run and cut it to (four) that's when we said, 'Okay, let's put the guys in who are going to win the game,'" Huggins said.
 
Some other noteworthy numbers: Mountaineers outscored the Dukes in the paint 46-to-26, including a 20-to-5 margin in second-chance points. WVU also had advantages in fast break points (19-7) and bench scoring (35-21).
 
The Mountaineers were just 10-of-20 from the free throw line - something Huggins will surely remind his guys of during practice this week.
 
Culver's stat line showed 7 points, eight rebounds and two assists with a team-best, plus-minus margin of 16. Others with notable plusses were McCabe (9) and Harler (9).
 
Ten of the 11 players who got into the game for the Mountaineers scored. Jermaine Haley was a scratch tonight and Huggins said during his postgame radio show that Sherman sustained a concussion during the game, but is expecting him back for next Friday's opener against Akron.
 
Duquesne got a game-high 22 points from point guard Tavian Dunn-Martin, 15 of those coming from 3-point distance. Guard Sincere Carry added 11 for the Dukes, which shot just 36.5 percent from the floor for the game. 
 
West Virginia never trailed.
 
"There were stretches tonight where we were horrible (defensively) – just gave them straight-line drive after straight-line drive," he said. "And then we had sections of the game when we sat down and guarded pretty good."
 
A crowd of 9,705 was announced tonight.
 
Proceeds from the exhibition will benefit the Dayton Oregon District Tragedy Fund , established in response to the mass shooting that occurred in the early hours of August 4, 2019.
 
The Dayton Foundation has established a way that allows individuals to make charitable contributions to help the individuals and families directly affected by this terrible tragedy. Mountaineer fans interested in contributing to the Dayton Oregon District Tragedy Fund can text DAYTON to 20222 to donate $10, or visit daytonfoundation.org to make a gift to benefit families affected.
 
More than $22,000 was raised from last year's exhibition game against Penn State to benefit the American Red Cross.
 
The games count next Friday night when West Virginia opens the 2019-20 season against the Zips at the WVU Coliseum. That game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be televised locally on AT&T Sportsnet. Tickets are still available and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.