MORGANTOWN - Bob Huggins spent a considerable amount of time and voice in the days leading up to Wednesday night's game with Duquesne harping to his West Virginia basketball team about its defensive deficiencies.
MORGANTOWN - Bob Huggins spent a considerable amount of time and voice in the days leading up to Wednesday night's game with Duquesne harping to his West Virginia basketball team about its defensive deficiencies.
Who knew that ultimately that would be the Mountaineers' forte, not just in a 68-39 rout of the Dukes, but in truth throughout the first six games of the season?
Yet there was Huggins after the No. 6 Mountaineers had run Duquesne out of the Coliseum, all but praising his team's ability to guard but at the same time taking more than a few shots at his team's offensive struggles and threatening changes in personnel if it doesn't change soon.
"All we've talked about to them is that we didn't lose a game when we scored over 70 [points] a year ago. Let's go back to guarding the way we guarded a year ago, which I thought we did,'' said Huggins, who watched Duquesne shoot just 31.8 percent, turn the ball over 24 times and not score more than 20 points in either half. "But we didn't run our offense and I'm running out of patience with a few guys.''
Indeed, this was not an offensive clinic by any means. West Virginia's leading scorer was forward Kevin Jones, who scored 16 points and got most of those on follow-up shots. He had seven of the Mountaineers' 20 offensive rebounds. Aside from Jones, Wellington Smith scored 11 points, Da'Sean Butler 10 and Truck Bryant and John Flowers eight each. West Virginia shot just 36.4 percent, but fortunately made 10-of-27 3-pointers. On 2-point attempts the Mountaineers were just 14-of-39.
But it wasn't just poor shooting that upset Huggins. Those nights happen. What he can't tolerate is players not running the offense. And after WVU jumped out to a quick 14-2 lead, that didn't happen. Huggins thought there was entirely too much one-on-one play and guys trying to show their skill instead of working within the offense.
"Good players do what they can do. They do the things they're good at doing and they don't do the things they're not really good at doing,'' Huggins said. "You look at them and say, 'That guy's really good. He doesn't make many mistakes.' Well, if he can't dribble he doesn't dribble. If he can't shoot he doesn't shoot.
"Bad players try to show you their whole repertoire of things they can't do. And we've got a bunch of those guys who want to show you all the stuff they can't do instead of doing the things they can do.''
Huggins never named names, but to a certain extent he seemed to be talking about almost everyone except Jones, who has settled into being West Virginia's under-the-basket force. He had 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes.
But sophomore forward Devin Ebanks suffered through a 2-for-10 shooting performance and had three turnovers and just four rebounds. Shooting guard Casey Mitchell, who didn't start because of a sore knee, missed six of seven shots and is shooting 31.4 percent for the season, just 25 percent on 3s.
Huggins won't complain about poor shooting if it is within the context of the offense, but Wednesday night he didn't seem to think that was the case. And so he tried to send a message.
"Honestly, I'm running out of patience with a few guys. They've got to get with us or they can sit over there and cheer like crazy. And if they don't do that, they can stand outside and try to get a ticket in,'' Huggins said. "This isn't going to continue. I've been more patient than I've probably ever been and I'm tired of being patient. It's time to do it right. We're getting ready to get into the heart of our schedule and you can't put guys in the game that totally stop your offense.''
For Duquesne (6-2), well, its offense never even came close to getting started. Playing without two injured guards, Fairmont native Ron Everhart's team made just 14-of-44 shots and missed 11 of its 13 3-point attempts. West Virginia so frustrated Duquesne that the Dukes' leading scorer this season, junior guard Bill Clark (17.1 points per game), did not score a point until 5:41 remained. He would finish with just five points and eight turnovers. Damian Saunders led the Dukes with 12 points.
"Our guys talk all the time about trying to win the [Atlantic 10],'' Everhart said. "But tonight got their attention.''
Duquesne (6-2), which owns an early-season win at Iowa and held a 16-point lead over Pitt before losing in two overtimes, figured to be the first decent test for West Virginia at home. Any thoughts of that happening, though, ended when the Mountaineers made six of their first 11 shots, began harassing the Dukes into what would eventually become 15 first-half turnovers and the rout was on.
While the competition for the Mountaineers at home will get a significant upgrade later this month when Mississippi and Marquette arrive, in the interim there is a Saturday night game against Coppin State, which is No. 322 in the current RPI.
BRIEFLY: WVU's ticket office announced Wednesday a fifth sellout, the Feb. 3 game against Pitt. Previous sellouts were games with Syracuse, Louisville, Villanova and Cincinnati. That means the only Big East home games with tickets still available are Marquette (Dec. 29), Rutgers (Jan. 6), Seton Hall (Feb. 20) and Georgetown (March 1). The only other home games remaining on the schedule are Saturday night against Coppin State, then Mississippi (Dec. 23) and Ohio State (Jan. 23).
Duquesne (6-3)
Player FG FT R A P
Damian Saunders 4-8 4-6 6 0 12
Rodrigo Peggau 0-3 0-0 5 0 0
Eric Evans 3-6 0-0 1 2 6
Bill Clark 1-9 3-5 3 1 5
B.J. Monteiro 2-6 0-0 6 1 6
Andre Marhold 0-3 0-0 4 0 0
Chase Robinson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
MORGANTOWN - Bob Huggins spent a considerable amount of time and voice in the days leading up to Wednesday night's game with Duquesne harping to his West Virginia basketball team about its defensive deficiencies.
Who knew that ultimately that would be the Mountaineers' forte, not just in a 68-39 rout of the Dukes, but in truth throughout the first six games of the season?
Yet there was Huggins after the No. 6 Mountaineers had run Duquesne out of the Coliseum, all but praising his team's ability to guard but at the same time taking more than a few shots at his team's offensive struggles and threatening changes in personnel if it doesn't change soon.
"All we've talked about to them is that we didn't lose a game when we scored over 70 [points] a year ago. Let's go back to guarding the way we guarded a year ago, which I thought we did,'' said Huggins, who watched Duquesne shoot just 31.8 percent, turn the ball over 24 times and not score more than 20 points in either half. "But we didn't run our offense and I'm running out of patience with a few guys.''
Indeed, this was not an offensive clinic by any means. West Virginia's leading scorer was forward Kevin Jones, who scored 16 points and got most of those on follow-up shots. He had seven of the Mountaineers' 20 offensive rebounds. Aside from Jones, Wellington Smith scored 11 points, Da'Sean Butler 10 and Truck Bryant and John Flowers eight each. West Virginia shot just 36.4 percent, but fortunately made 10-of-27 3-pointers. On 2-point attempts the Mountaineers were just 14-of-39.
But it wasn't just poor shooting that upset Huggins. Those nights happen. What he can't tolerate is players not running the offense. And after WVU jumped out to a quick 14-2 lead, that didn't happen. Huggins thought there was entirely too much one-on-one play and guys trying to show their skill instead of working within the offense.
"Good players do what they can do. They do the things they're good at doing and they don't do the things they're not really good at doing,'' Huggins said. "You look at them and say, 'That guy's really good. He doesn't make many mistakes.' Well, if he can't dribble he doesn't dribble. If he can't shoot he doesn't shoot.
"Bad players try to show you their whole repertoire of things they can't do. And we've got a bunch of those guys who want to show you all the stuff they can't do instead of doing the things they can do.''
Huggins never named names, but to a certain extent he seemed to be talking about almost everyone except Jones, who has settled into being West Virginia's under-the-basket force. He had 16 points, nine rebounds and three steals in 29 minutes.
But sophomore forward Devin Ebanks suffered through a 2-for-10 shooting performance and had three turnovers and just four rebounds. Shooting guard Casey Mitchell, who didn't start because of a sore knee, missed six of seven shots and is shooting 31.4 percent for the season, just 25 percent on 3s.
Huggins won't complain about poor shooting if it is within the context of the offense, but Wednesday night he didn't seem to think that was the case. And so he tried to send a message.
"Honestly, I'm running out of patience with a few guys. They've got to get with us or they can sit over there and cheer like crazy. And if they don't do that, they can stand outside and try to get a ticket in,'' Huggins said. "This isn't going to continue. I've been more patient than I've probably ever been and I'm tired of being patient. It's time to do it right. We're getting ready to get into the heart of our schedule and you can't put guys in the game that totally stop your offense.''
For Duquesne (6-2), well, its offense never even came close to getting started. Playing without two injured guards, Fairmont native Ron Everhart's team made just 14-of-44 shots and missed 11 of its 13 3-point attempts. West Virginia so frustrated Duquesne that the Dukes' leading scorer this season, junior guard Bill Clark (17.1 points per game), did not score a point until 5:41 remained. He would finish with just five points and eight turnovers. Damian Saunders led the Dukes with 12 points.
"Our guys talk all the time about trying to win the [Atlantic 10],'' Everhart said. "But tonight got their attention.''
Duquesne (6-2), which owns an early-season win at Iowa and held a 16-point lead over Pitt before losing in two overtimes, figured to be the first decent test for West Virginia at home. Any thoughts of that happening, though, ended when the Mountaineers made six of their first 11 shots, began harassing the Dukes into what would eventually become 15 first-half turnovers and the rout was on.
While the competition for the Mountaineers at home will get a significant upgrade later this month when Mississippi and Marquette arrive, in the interim there is a Saturday night game against Coppin State, which is No. 322 in the current RPI.
BRIEFLY: WVU's ticket office announced Wednesday a fifth sellout, the Feb. 3 game against Pitt. Previous sellouts were games with Syracuse, Louisville, Villanova and Cincinnati. That means the only Big East home games with tickets still available are Marquette (Dec. 29), Rutgers (Jan. 6), Seton Hall (Feb. 20) and Georgetown (March 1). The only other home games remaining on the schedule are Saturday night against Coppin State, then Mississippi (Dec. 23) and Ohio State (Jan. 23).
Duquesne (6-3)
Player FG FT R A P
Damian Saunders 4-8 4-6 6 0 12
Rodrigo Peggau 0-3 0-0 5 0 0
Eric Evans 3-6 0-0 1 2 6
Bill Clark 1-9 3-5 3 1 5
B.J. Monteiro 2-6 0-0 6 1 6
Andre Marhold 0-3 0-0 4 0 0
Chase Robinson 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Morakinyo Williams 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Sean Johnson 3-7 2-5 1 1 8
David Theis 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Oliver Lewinson 1-1 0-0 5 1 2
Lucas Newton 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 3
Totals 14-44 9-16 34 6 39
West Virginia (6-0)
Player FG FT R A P
Da'Sean Butler 3-13 2-2 8 3 10
Devin Ebanks 2-10 0-0 4 2 4
Kevin Jones 6-10 3-5 9 0 16
Wellington Smith 4-6 2-3 4 1 11
Darryl Bryant 2-6 2-4 2 7 8
Cam Thoroughman 0-0 0-0 2 0 0
Jonnie West 1-1 0-0 0 0 3
Bryan Lowther 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Cam Payne 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Joe Mazzulla 0-0 1-2 3 0 1
Dalton Pepper 2-5 0-0 1 2 5
Casey Mitchell 1-7 0-0 2 0 2
John Flowers 3-6 0-0 6 0 8
Team 4
Totals 24-66 10-16 45 15 68
Halftime: West Virginia 42-20. 3-point goals: Duquesne 2-13 (Saunders 0-1, Peggau 0-1, Evans 0-3, Clark 0-3, Monteiro 2-4, Theis 0-1). West Virginia 10-27 (Butler 2-3, Ebanks 0-3, Jones 1-3, Smith 1-3, Bryant 2-4, West 1-1, Pepper 1-3, Mitchell 0-4, Flowers 2-3). Attendance: 9,835.
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And anyway, the WVU Mountaineer Maniacs had the "genius" idea to have the lower student section seats removed to be Standing Room Only. They got it and it has always been full.
The tradeoff? The seats above the "new" student section are now for the old ...@rt season ticket holders. THAT, SIR, is why there is, and will be, no craziness coming from over a thousand students. Now it will be around 350 or so.
The Maniacs are suckers and WVU took them, and the student body, to the cleaners.