The WVU men’s basketball team steamrolled their first Premier 7 conference opponent in the Illinois Fighting Illini, 89-57. It was their first game away from the friendly confines of the newly-renovated WVU Coliseum.
The Illini (4-2) came into this game on a bit of a sour note, losing to Winthrop 84-80 in OT on Monday. The Eagles scored 18 points off of 22 Illinois turnovers. The Mountaineers (4-0) continued that trend, with scoring 34 points off of 24 turnovers.
Both teams started off pretty locked within the first three minutes with a 10-9 WVU lead, but after that the Mountaineers took off with a 21-4 run over the next eight minutes giving them a 31-13 lead with 8:29 left in the first half.
Illinois responded with a little bit of a run of their own, outscoring WVU 11-2 and cutting the Mountaineer lead to 33-24 going into the final media timeout. But WVU responded in the last four minutes of the first half with another 15-4 outburst and went into the locker room with a 48-29 lead and never really looked back.
Nathan Adrian led West Virginia with 13 points and 8 rebounds. This is Adrian’s fourth straight game in double figures. Jevon Carter also finished in double figures with 10 points and 6 rebounds.
Daxter Miles Jr returned to the lineup for the Mountaineers scoring 8 points, but finished the game in foul trouble with 4. Elijah Macon also returned and scored 9 points and had 6 rebounds.
The Mountaineers will return to action on Friday at 3:00 PM on ESPN2 where they will take on former Atlantic 10 rival Temple in the NIT Season Tip-Off Championship.