--This wasn’t anywhere close to how this team could be playing eventually but West Virginia was in control with a comfortable lead for the most of the night against a team that just beat South Carolina. The Mountaineers held Boston to 33-percent from the floor and forced 22 turnovers, while absolutely dominating the paint by scoring more point there (48) then the Terriers had as a team. There were some lapses at times but it was reassuring how this team came out after halftime and put the Terriers away.
--The turnovers are the most that West Virginia has forced since 24 against TCU last season in the three over-time win. Before that you’d have to go back to the Pittsburgh game last year and those are the only two times that the Mountaineers hit that mark in the 2018-19 season. There were some breakdowns at times and some straight line drives, but a solid effort.
--Head coach Bob Huggins played all 12 available players in this one, each of them at least ten minutes. He used a lot of different lineups and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it’s clear here in the early portion of the season that the Mountaineers are going to try to sort some things out by getting a lot of players into the game. What will be interesting is when things start trimming down.
--Felt the offense ran well with sophomore point guard Jordan McCabe and senior Jermaine Haley in the game. McCabe didn’t score a point but had four assists and facilitated the ball.
--Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe is special guys. He absolutely controlled this game finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes and could have had more if he really pushed the issue. The scary thing right now is he is still obviously figuring things out at this level and goes too fast at times, but he just has a feel for positioning in the post and once he catches the ball down-low just goes non-stop the entire time he is in the game. He just finds a way to the ball because he simply never lets up. The Mountaineers don’t get many like him and while there’s going to be some growing pains, he has a chance to become a truly elite player at this level once it clicks for him. It’s scary for opponents just to think how much better he can become later this year.
--I can’t say enough about senior Jermaine Haley. He’s been on a tear since the end of last year and continues to take high quality shots. He came into the game 13-18 from two and finished this one 5-5. He is 1-2 from three but you can live with that. He shot 59-percent from two last season and has become more much aggressive going to the rim and looking or his offense.
--West Virginia made two three-pointers in this game and won. The last time the Mountaineers made 11-percent or less on three-pointers was in 2012 against Notre Dame. The last time the Mountaineers won a game shooting 11-percent or worse was 1999 in a 66-63 win over Robert Morris when they didn't make one. Aside from today, the Mountaineers had lost 11 of the last 12 with those numbers.
--Thought sophomore Derek Culver bounced back with 10 points and 4 rebounds, but he’s got to watch the foul trouble as it limited him to only 15 minutes. This looked for a time that we were finally going to have Culver and Tshiebwe hitting on all cylinders at the same time but it wasn’t to be.
--After each impressing at times, it was an off-night for both junior college guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil as the two combined to go 1-7 from the field and had some uncharacteristically bad misses. Something that was very encouraging was after the game, Sherman was taking shots much in the mold of what you saw out of Jevon Carter.
--Redshirt senior Logan Routt had his best game of the year statistically with 6 points and he really ran the floor tonight. He’s obviously behind the first two but when he plays well it’s good for the team. He also grabbed 14 rebounds in the 16 minutes on the floor.
--Liked the effort from junior forward Gabe Osabuohien. He showed his ability to defend and while he didn't score, on his one shot attempt you could see his flexibility to guard multiple positions.
--The Mountaineers were +9 in the shot department and led all but 18 seconds.
--Biggest +/- on the floor was Emmitt Matthews at +27. He finished with 4 points and 7 rebounds. The Mountaineers points per possession was 1.045 and the points per shooting possession was 1.232.
--West Virginia was 21-27 on layups and dunks.
--West Virginia had 10 turnovers. That’s the fewest since Oklahoma last season.
--One thing to gripe about? West Virginia was 13-21 from the foul line.
--The Mountaineers are now 4-0 on the season and will head to Cancun.
--The turnovers are the most that West Virginia has forced since 24 against TCU last season in the three over-time win. Before that you’d have to go back to the Pittsburgh game last year and those are the only two times that the Mountaineers hit that mark in the 2018-19 season. There were some breakdowns at times and some straight line drives, but a solid effort.
--Head coach Bob Huggins played all 12 available players in this one, each of them at least ten minutes. He used a lot of different lineups and sometimes it worked, sometimes it didn’t, but it’s clear here in the early portion of the season that the Mountaineers are going to try to sort some things out by getting a lot of players into the game. What will be interesting is when things start trimming down.
--Felt the offense ran well with sophomore point guard Jordan McCabe and senior Jermaine Haley in the game. McCabe didn’t score a point but had four assists and facilitated the ball.
--Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe is special guys. He absolutely controlled this game finishing with 21 points and 10 rebounds in 25 minutes and could have had more if he really pushed the issue. The scary thing right now is he is still obviously figuring things out at this level and goes too fast at times, but he just has a feel for positioning in the post and once he catches the ball down-low just goes non-stop the entire time he is in the game. He just finds a way to the ball because he simply never lets up. The Mountaineers don’t get many like him and while there’s going to be some growing pains, he has a chance to become a truly elite player at this level once it clicks for him. It’s scary for opponents just to think how much better he can become later this year.
--I can’t say enough about senior Jermaine Haley. He’s been on a tear since the end of last year and continues to take high quality shots. He came into the game 13-18 from two and finished this one 5-5. He is 1-2 from three but you can live with that. He shot 59-percent from two last season and has become more much aggressive going to the rim and looking or his offense.
--West Virginia made two three-pointers in this game and won. The last time the Mountaineers made 11-percent or less on three-pointers was in 2012 against Notre Dame. The last time the Mountaineers won a game shooting 11-percent or worse was 1999 in a 66-63 win over Robert Morris when they didn't make one. Aside from today, the Mountaineers had lost 11 of the last 12 with those numbers.
--Thought sophomore Derek Culver bounced back with 10 points and 4 rebounds, but he’s got to watch the foul trouble as it limited him to only 15 minutes. This looked for a time that we were finally going to have Culver and Tshiebwe hitting on all cylinders at the same time but it wasn’t to be.
--After each impressing at times, it was an off-night for both junior college guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil as the two combined to go 1-7 from the field and had some uncharacteristically bad misses. Something that was very encouraging was after the game, Sherman was taking shots much in the mold of what you saw out of Jevon Carter.
--Redshirt senior Logan Routt had his best game of the year statistically with 6 points and he really ran the floor tonight. He’s obviously behind the first two but when he plays well it’s good for the team. He also grabbed 14 rebounds in the 16 minutes on the floor.
--Liked the effort from junior forward Gabe Osabuohien. He showed his ability to defend and while he didn't score, on his one shot attempt you could see his flexibility to guard multiple positions.
--The Mountaineers were +9 in the shot department and led all but 18 seconds.
--Biggest +/- on the floor was Emmitt Matthews at +27. He finished with 4 points and 7 rebounds. The Mountaineers points per possession was 1.045 and the points per shooting possession was 1.232.
--West Virginia was 21-27 on layups and dunks.
--West Virginia had 10 turnovers. That’s the fewest since Oklahoma last season.
--One thing to gripe about? West Virginia was 13-21 from the foul line.
--The Mountaineers are now 4-0 on the season and will head to Cancun.
