WVU 08-09 BBall

[wvjohn]

Regular Season Schedule and Results

DATE -------------- OPPONENT TIME ----- /-------- RESULT ------------- RECORD

November 15 ---------- Elon ------------------------ W 92-47 ---------------- 1-0
November 20 -------- Longwood ------------------- W 86-54 ---------------- 2-0
November 25 ------ Delaware State --------------- W 76-42 ---------------- 3-0
November 28 -------- vs, Iowa* -------------------- W 87-68 ---------------- 4-0
November 29 ------- vs, Kentucky* ---------------- L 54-43 ----------------- 4-1
December 3 -------- at Mississippi ---------------- W 80-78 ---------------- 5-1
December 6 ------- Cleveland State --------------- W 53-43 ---------------- 6-1
December 9 ---- vs, No. 22 Davidson* ------------ L 68-65 ----------------- 6-2
December 13 ------ at Duquesne ------------------ W 68-63 ----------------- 7-2
December 20 ---------- Miami (OH) --------------- W 82-46 ----------------- 8-2
December 23 --------- Radford --------------------- W 89-54 ---------------- 9-2
December 27 ------ at No. 13 Ohio St. ------------ W 76-48 ---------------- 10-2
January 3 ----------- at Seton Hall ----------------- W 92-66 ---------------- 11-2 (1-0)
January 6 ----------- No. 2 UConn 7:00 PM ET ---- L 55-61------------------ 11-3 (1-1)
January 10 ----- at No. 25 Marquette 12:00 ------ L 53-75 ----------------- 11-4 (1-2)
January 14 ---------- Marshall 1:00 PM ET --------- W 87-76 --------------- 12-4 (1-2)
January 17 -------------- USF 12:00 PM ET -------- W 62-59 ---------------- 13-4 (2-2)
January 22 ------ at No. 8 Georgetown ----------- W 75-58 ----------------- 14-4 (3-2)
January 25 --------- No. 3 Pittsburgh ------------- L 67-76 ------------------ 14-5 (3-3)
January 28 ----------- St. John's ------------------- W 75-52 ----------------- 15-5 (4-3)
January 31 --------- at No. 18 Louisville --------- L 63-69 ------------------ 15-6 (4-4)
February 4 --------- at No. 11 Syracuse ---------- L 61-74 ------------------ 16-7 (4-5)
February 7 ------------ Providence ---------------- W 86-59 ----------------- 17-7 (5-5)
February 9 -------- at No. 3 Pittsburgh ---------- L 59-70 ------------------- 17-8 (5-6)
February 13 -------- No. 13 Villanova ------------ W 93-72 ------------------ 18-8 (6-6)
February 18 -------- No. 10 Notre Dame 7:00 PM ET
February 22 ------------ at Rutgers 3:00 PM ET
February 26 ----------- at Cincinnati 7:00 PM ET
March 1 -------------------- at USF 4:00 PM ET
March 4 ------------------ DePaul 7:00 PM ET
March 7 --------------- No. 18 Louisville 9:00 PM ET

West Virginia 92, Seton Hall 66

Associated Press


NEWARK, N.J. -- Alex Ruoff and Da'Sean Butler both scored 18 points as West Virginia routed Seton Hall 92-66 on Saturday.


John Flowers had 14 points and Kevin Jones added 12 for the Mountaineers (11-2, 1-0 in Big East), while Darryl Bryant and Devin Ebanks each had 10 points as West Virginia won its fifth straight.

Jeremy Hazell had a game-high 29 points for Seton Hall (9-5, 0-2), while Eugene Harvey added 13 points.

The Mountaineers were in command for most of the game and led 40-31 at the break. They then held double-digit leads in the second half before Hazell scored five straight points to cut the lead to 63-55.

However, West Virginia then sealed the win with a 12-2 run late in the half.

[Spence]

You guys sure kicked our butts.

[wvjohn]

we have a young team they still have alot of learning to due should be really good next year. just 1 sen. on the squad this year.

[Spence]

Yeah, I doubt we even make the tourney. We aren't very good.

[WoVeU]

Yeah, I wish we would have beaten UConn. The Eers played well but didn't get it done.

One of these years I just want to beat Pitt, Notre Dame, Louisville, Georgetown, Syracuse, UConn, Nova, and Marquette. The I'll be happy!

I don't want much...

Syracuse #9...... 3-0 - 15-1
Marquette #15... 3-0 - 14-2
Providence........ 3-0 - 11-4
Pittsburgh #1..... 2-0 ½ 14-0
Louisville #21..... 1-0 1 10-3
Connecticut #5....2-1 1 13-1
Notre Dame #13... 2-1 1 11-3
Villanova #17......1-1 1½ 13-2
West Virginia #22. 1-1 1½ 11-3
St. John's..........1-1 1½ 10-4
Georgetown #10.. 1-2 2 10-3
Cincinnati......... 0-2 2½ 10-5
South Florida..... 0-2 2½ 5-9
Seton Hall........ 0-3 3 9-6
Rutgers........... 0-3 3 9-7
DePaul 0-3 3 8-8

[Dossenator]

I have not seen West Virginia play this year but it looks like they have a tough road ahead of them. They sure put the beat down on Ohio State. Your WV team is much like my Razorbacks...very young. That is good news for the future. Good luck with that schedule.

[WoVeU]

My boys got slammed by Marquette. Ahead by 2 at the half they faltered terribly under the press and were outscored 46-22 in the 2nd, ridiculous! This after taking UConn down to the wire.

They have Marshall ten USF to get back on track with before they go to Georgetown. (They better beat the Herd and the Bulls...after Georgetown they've got Pitt coming to town!

[WoVeU]

I hate Pitt and the Eers are backed up in the "owesies" to the Panthers. I'd give a certain left organ to beat Pitt while they are ranked #1!

[WoVeU]

WVU have won 3 in a row with tonight smack down on Georgetown in their house. Which I did not get to see down here in South America! Had some losers on here, Saint Mary's -v- San DIego. Who'd want to miss that??? ESPN is just trying to get to me I guess!

[wvjohn]

They showed some real good D in that game. And by the way it was a good one to watch too. Just hope they play that good against PITT Sunday.

[WoVeU]

I didn't get to see it but the Eers didn't have enough to beat Pitt. I think the Eers will be there soon, maybe next year. I guess just pulling a game above .500 in the Big East this year would be good.

[wvjohn]

Butler, Mountaineers Scorch Villanova

Da'Sean Butler bounced back in a big way on Friday night, scoring a career-high 43 points to lead West Virginia past No. 13 Villanova by a final of 93-72.

When Da’Sean Butler is at his best, West Virginia is very tough to beat. Never has that statement been more spot-on than it was on Friday night. Butler, playing on an injured ankle, poured in a career-high 43 points to lead WVU to a blowout win over No. 13 Villanova by a final of 93-72.

The junior forward hit 12 of his 23 shot attempts, including six of 13 from three-point range. He also did an excellent job of getting to and executing from the foul line, knocking down 13 of his 15 free throws en route to the banner win for WVU.

“I’m just happy we won, honestly,” Butler said with an ear-to-ear grin after the nationally-televised win over the Wildcats. “I mean, granted the points are great and everything and I’m happy I got that, but I’m just glad that we have a chance to start a streak now. We’ve got Notre Dame coming in on Wednesday.”

Ironically, the career night came on the heels of what was probably the worst game of Butler’s career. In Monday night’s loss at fourth-ranked Pitt, Butler made just two of his 12 field goal attempts, scored four points, did not attempt a free throw and did not record a rebound before fouling out. That game, though, was just a blip on the radar for a player who has been amongst the Big East’s best for much of the season. Prior to the Pitt game, he had scored at least 20 points in six straight games for WVU. Thus, it was just a matter of time before he turned in a night such as this.

“I have been waiting for (a big game from Butler), honestly,” said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. “He does it in practice. He does a great job of reading screens and our guys are getting better at getting him the ball.”

After not scoring for the game’s first four minutes, Butler got hot over the final 16 minutes of the first half. By the 10 minute mark, he had 13 points. By the time WVU entered the locker room with a commanding 52-34 lead, he was only four shy of his career-high total of 28, set earlier this season in a win over Miami of Ohio.

Aiding Butler’s effort was the fact that the Mountaineers were playing almost flawlessly as a team on offense against Villanova’s frustrating full-court pressure defense. For the most part, WVU did not panic and instead attacked the press when given the opportunity to do so. By attacking and moving the ball unselfishly, the Mountaineers were able to free up Butler for open looks.

“We got some easy baskets against their pressure,” Huggins noted. “I thought we did a real good job in handling their pressure.”

Even when West Virginia went cold to start the second half, Villanova wasn’t much better. The Wildcats were never able to trim the deficit to less than 13 points, even with Butler and his teammates misfiring on the other end. When WVU finally settled in over the final 20 minutes, there was virtually nothing Villanova could do to get back in the game.

“Obviously we didn’t do a lot of things well and I don’t want to take away from what West Virginia did because they were just great,” said veteran Villanova head coach Jay Wright. “They got into us and they really pressured our perimeter people and the way we can usually take that away is Dante Cunningham.”

Cunningham, though, was ineffective for virtually the entire night. The Wildcats’ leading scorer picked up a pair of quick offensive fouls early in the first half and did not play again until the outset of the second half. He finished with seven points, six rebounds and four turnovers.

“I thought after (Cunningham’s two fouls) we really didn’t have an answer for their pressure,” Wright admitted. “Their length on the perimeter is great, their pressure was great and usually our answer for that is to go into Dante. We tried some other guys, we just didn’t get it done. You need to give their defense credit.”

Corey Fisher led the Wildcats with 17 points, while Corey Stokes chipped in 15 for VU, which saw its six-game winning streak snapped with Friday’s loss. The 72 points were also the lowest total in four games for Villanova, which had scored at least 90 points in three straight games entering Friday.

Devin Ebanks recorded a double-double of 16 points and 10 rebounds for WVU, while John Flowers added nine points off the bench.

The story of the night, though, was obviously Butler, who became the first WVU player to score at least 40 points since Lowes Moore did so against Notre Dame in 1978.

“He did it every way,” Wright said. “He did it on the offensive glass, on curls off screens, one-on-one. He did it
running in the lane. He’s just great.”

Never more so than on Friday.