Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia rode a smothering second-half defensive performance to defeat Oklahoma State 65-47 on Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
 
After watching the Cowboys shoot 61 percent in the first half, the Mountaineers nearly switched those two digits in the second as OSU made just 5-of-30 from the floor for 17 percent. 
 
OSU missed its first six shot attempts and was 1-of-12 over the first 9:17 of the second half to see its 10-point first half lead turn into a seven-point deficit.
 
West Virginia (19-7, 7-6) wasn't making many shots either, but it did get them to fall from the free throw line to eventually build its lead to 11 with 8:42 left.
 
"We were trying to throw it close," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "They did a good job on the perimeter of kind of getting to our shooters and we didn't do a very good job of getting them open. They kind of beat us to the spot a lot of times but when you throw it close generally good things happen."
 
The margin moved to 13 on a Sean McNeil jumper and then to 15 on Jermaine Haley's pretty reverse layup with 4:47 to go.
 
Haley's biggest basket came right before the end of the first half when he got a turn-around 3 from right in front of Oklahoma State's bench to fall through the cylinder as time expired to reduce OSU's lead to five at the break.
 
West Virginia used an 8-3 run to close the first half and began the second half on an 8-0 run to take its first lead since early in the game.
 
Huggins, who tied Dean Smith for sixth in NCAA history with his 879^th career victory tonight, shook up his starting lineup by inserting freshman Miles McBride and Taz Sherman at the guard positions and going smaller up front with Jermaine Haley, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Oscar Tshiebwe.
 
He also reduced his rotation from 12 to 10 players and only seven players logged 17 or more minutes tonight.
 
But at the game's outset the smaller starting lineup struggled to contain OSU's Cameron McGriff and Yor Anei, who combined to score 21 of OSU's 33 first-half points as the Cowboys built a 30-20 lead with 3:28 to go.
 
Then Huggins went back to his twin-tower lineup of Tshiebwe and Derek Culver and McGriff and Anei went quiet. 
 
"That was not a good team to try and go small against on the front line because they just backed us down and over powered us," Huggins said. "And they don't back Derek down so …"
 
So, McGriff's first basket of the second half didn't come until 7:58 left with WVU leading by 11.
 
The senior forward finished with a game-high 19 points while Anei finished with 8. Those two combined to shoot 12-of-19 while their teammates connected on only 6-of-32.
 
The Cowboys (13-13, 3-10) also failed to reach 50 points against West Virginia in Stillwater back on Jan. 6.
 
McBride and McNeil scored 11 each and eight of the 10 players who got on the floor tonight scored at least 5 to pace the Mountaineers.
 
For McBride, it was his first double-digit scoring performance since Texas Tech on Jan. 29 while it was just McNeil's fourth double-digit effort of the season and his first since Nicholls State back on Dec. 14.
 
Tshiebwe (15) and Culver (10) controlled the glass where the Mountaineers had a 42 to 29 advantage.
 
"Derek made plays at both ends of the court," Huggins said. "In the second half I thought Derek was exceptional."
 
Besides rebounding and free throw shooting (17 to 8), West Virginia's two other big advantage areas were second-chance points (14 to 0) and bench scoring (22 to 11).
 
Now passing Smith, the only stationary target remaining for Huggins on the all-time wins list is Bob Knight at 901.
 
North Carolina's Roy Williams is two victories ahead of Huggins at 881 and 77-year-old Jim Calhoun has 910 career wins while coaching Division III St. Joseph's in Connecticut.
 
Mike Krzyzewski (1,154) and Jim Boeheim (960) are one and two on the all-time NCAA wins list.
 
"I have always had great respect for coach Smith," Huggins said. "I got to spend some time around him out in Las Vegas at Michael (Jordan's) Fantasy Camp. He was just a great, great guy and a very humble guy.
 
"Roy and I have been good friends for 15, 20 years and people may not believe me, but I don't pay any attention to that stuff," Huggins said. "It doesn't matter to me. What matters is the next one. We promised Mountaineer fans we were going to get it going again and that's my focus – not who you pass or who passes you."
 
The win snapped a season-long three game losing streak and keeps the Mountaineers a half-game behind third-place Texas Tech in the Big 12 standings.
 
The Red Raiders will play Kansas State tomorrow night in Lubbock.
 
WVU returns to the road for a two-game swing through Texas. The Mountaineers play at TCU on Saturday afternoon and then will face Texas on Monday night. Both games will be televised nationally on ESPNU.