The Mountaineers had no trouble tonight in defeating the Wofford Terriers 77-44 at the WVU Coliseum. West Virginia (11-1) outrebounded Wofford (9-3) 37-27, won the turnover battle 21-13, and shot 49.1% overall while allowing the Terriers to only shoot 26.8% in what can only be described as a complete domination of the Terriers.
West Virginia had it's way with Wofford from the start. A Terrier bucket at the 12:46 mark ended a 16-0 Mountaineer run to cut the lead to 18-4.
At 6:45 to go in the first half, the Mountaineers led 20-8. Bob Huggins, your thoughts?
That's his happy face. The Mountaineers continued to be very stingy on defense, put together a solid 20 minutes all around, and held a 42-20 halftime lead. Wofford only averages 11 turnovers per game,but they had 12 at the break. They finished the game with 21.
The second half started with both teams trying to find a groove. After a Mountaineer turnover, Karl Cochran thought he had the first points of the half. Jonathan Holton had other ideas:
His long arms made that look easy, but that was an impressive play.
Later in the half, Elijah Macon had a highlight block of his own, pinning a Derrick Brooks layup against the backboard, which led to a Gary Browne three to give West Virginia a 56-25 lead.
The second half was much like the first, with Wofford having no answer for the Mountaineers on either end. There was potential for a letdown tonight after such an impressive performance against NC State in New York, but West Virginia was having none of that. The effort was there the entire night on their way to a 33 point victory.
West Virginia was led by Juwan Staten with 17 points, 10 rebounds, and 4 assists. Jonathan Holton added 11 points and 5 rebounds. Elijah Macon had a really strong outing, scoring 11 points. Jevon Carter had 10, and Gary Browne and Jaysean Paige had 9 each.
Wofford was led by Spencer Collins with 12. Karl Cochran had 10.
Some notes:
- West Virginia shot an impressive 19-23 from the line tonight for 82.6%.
- The depth really showed in this game. There was no dropoff in production with any substitution that was made.
- This was a game that I thought would be fairly close throughout, and I never expected walk-on James Long to get any minutes against his old team. Long got up 2 shots, but didn't score any points.
- Parking is now $10 at the Coliseum, down from the ridiculous $20 it was before. It's a small step toward getting more people in the gym, but it may help a little.
Make no mistake, this was no Monmouth or Lafayette the Mountaineers demolished tonight. Wofford is a good team. They beat NC State in Raleigh and are 51st in RPI per ESPN.
West Virginia is off for the next eight days for the Christmas holiday. They return to action on December 30th against Virginia Tech for their last tuneup game before conference play. Last season, the Mountaineers let a seventeen point first half lead slip through their fingers and lost to the Hokies in Blacksburg 87-82. I have a feeling this one turns out a bit different. The game tips at 2:00 PM and will be televised by ESPNU.