West Virginia Dumps Loyola (MD), 96-47

The Mountaineers led wire to wire on a night where virtually everything they did was correct. Loyola Maryland fell behind early and never had a chance as shot after shot fell for WVU, and seemingly everything they put up was off the mark and rebounded by the Mountaineers.

In addition to the 49 point victory, Coach Huggins' squad out-rebounded the Greyhounds by 40. The 62 total rebounds by the team were than the team scored MANY times last season. While the overall team field goal percentage was 43.2%, WVU shot 59.1% from three-point range and an astounding (for this team, of late) 19 of 22 from the charity stripe.

Big Sweat, Kevin Noreen was your player of the first half, pulling down 8 boards (5 offensive) and putting several of them right back in for 13 points. Remi Dibo showed once again why Huggs wanted him for his shooting ability, going 5 for 7 from downtown, leading all scorers with 19 points.

Also in double figures for the Mountaineers were Terry Henderson with 16, Eron Harris with 14 and Nathan Adrian with 11.

I still can't get over how far this team has come from one season to the next. Say what you want about the level of competition so far, but like several of us mentioned in the game thread, we're beating the teams we're supposed to beat...handily. That level of basketball hasn't been on display here in several years. It feels longer because last year was so bad. I'm not a basketball fan, in general, and I'm enjoying watching these guys.

The road does take a turn to the more difficult now, with upcoming games against Gonzaga and Marshall in Charleston (never an easy game). But first, they take to the road to take on Missouri on Friday.