Post by rainman on Dec 6, 2007 6:46:23 GMT -5
Mountaineers Roll
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
December 5, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alex Ruoff scored a career-high 28 points to lead West Virginia to a surprisingly easy 88-59 victory over Auburn in the second game of the Pizza Hut SEC/Big East Invitational at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala.
No. 4 Georgetown knocked off Alabama 70-60 in the first game.
Ruoff was 10 of 12 overall from the floor and 6 of 8 from 3-point distance. The Mountaineers shot 61 percent for the game, forced 20 Auburn turnovers and committed only seven in a near flawless performance. The Mountaineers had 24 assists on 36 field goals.
“When Alex hit those first couple 3s generally when he gets it going he gets it going pretty good,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Ruoff is coming off a 0 for 5 shooting performance in West Virginia’s 70-53 win over Winthrop last Saturday afternoon.
“He didn’t shoot it very well last Saturday and he comes in and really concentrates and works at it. I watched him and I didn’t think he got through the ball real well,” Huggins said. “When you’re talking to him he understands what you’re talking about and then he tries to go ahead and go out and do it.”
Ruoff had plenty of support against Auburn. Joe Alexander chipped in with 17 points including a pair of thunderous first-half dunks that drew gasps from the partisan Auburn crowd.
“He’s concentrating for a longer period of time. He lost interest in the second half quite honestly. When Joe is really focused and into it he’s really good,” Huggins said.
Da’Sean Butler had 13 points and Joe Mazzulla came off the bench to contribute 11. Mazzulla has reached double figures in back-to-back games having scored 10 last Saturday against Winthrop.
“I was disappointed that Da’Sean didn’t get to play more minutes because of the foul trouble,” Huggins said. “The reality is he’s so valuable so why risk getting him in foul trouble and they make a run because they are capable of making runs on you. That’s why I played him so long in the second half because he deserves to get minutes.”
After a quick 2-0 Auburn lead, West Virginia used a 10-0 run to make it 12-2. The margin swelled to 17, 21-4, on a Ruoff lay up and reached 20, 26-6, on a Ruoff 3.
West Virginia led 44-27 at halftime.
A 9-0 West Virginia run after Quan Prowell’s lay up began the second half put the game out of reach at the 17-minute timeout.
West Virginia’s biggest lead was 37 points after a pair of 3s by Butler and Ruoff with five minutes to go.
“We’re going to take people out of what they want to run. They didn’t run a whole lot of stuff. They tried to run some stuff early and we took it away and they ended up four out and one in,” Huggins said. “We had some errors today that they know better. It’s a day-to-day deal. We have to continue to get better and the more we do the right things the more we’re going to do the right things.”
DeWayne Reed had 19 for Auburn, now 4-2. The Tigers got 10 points from Rasheem Barrett and 8 from Korvotney Barber - eight below his season average of 16.2 points per game heading into tonight’s contest.
Powell, playing his first game after serving a five-game suspension to begin the season, managed just 4 points in 23 minutes of action.
West Virginia (6-1) has a difficult assignment this Saturday facing 6-2 Duquesne at 7 pm and the WVU Coliseum. The Dukes fell, 73-68 at home to No. 8 Pitt and trailed by one, 63-62, with two minutes left in the game.
“They’re full-court pressing, trapping and subbing five guys at a time,” said Huggins of Duquesne. “We’re not going to sub five at a time so we’re going to make sure we’ve got good legs on Saturday night. Fortunately we’ve handled pressure before. Tennessee pressured us so at least we know what to do. We have a frame of reference from which to work with and now we’ve just got to go do what we do.”
All six of West Virginia’s wins this year have been by double digits.
By John Antonik for MSNsportsNET.com
December 5, 2007
BIRMINGHAM, Ala. – Alex Ruoff scored a career-high 28 points to lead West Virginia to a surprisingly easy 88-59 victory over Auburn in the second game of the Pizza Hut SEC/Big East Invitational at the Birmingham Jefferson Convention Complex in Birmingham, Ala.
No. 4 Georgetown knocked off Alabama 70-60 in the first game.
Ruoff was 10 of 12 overall from the floor and 6 of 8 from 3-point distance. The Mountaineers shot 61 percent for the game, forced 20 Auburn turnovers and committed only seven in a near flawless performance. The Mountaineers had 24 assists on 36 field goals.
“When Alex hit those first couple 3s generally when he gets it going he gets it going pretty good,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Ruoff is coming off a 0 for 5 shooting performance in West Virginia’s 70-53 win over Winthrop last Saturday afternoon.
“He didn’t shoot it very well last Saturday and he comes in and really concentrates and works at it. I watched him and I didn’t think he got through the ball real well,” Huggins said. “When you’re talking to him he understands what you’re talking about and then he tries to go ahead and go out and do it.”
Ruoff had plenty of support against Auburn. Joe Alexander chipped in with 17 points including a pair of thunderous first-half dunks that drew gasps from the partisan Auburn crowd.
“He’s concentrating for a longer period of time. He lost interest in the second half quite honestly. When Joe is really focused and into it he’s really good,” Huggins said.
Da’Sean Butler had 13 points and Joe Mazzulla came off the bench to contribute 11. Mazzulla has reached double figures in back-to-back games having scored 10 last Saturday against Winthrop.
“I was disappointed that Da’Sean didn’t get to play more minutes because of the foul trouble,” Huggins said. “The reality is he’s so valuable so why risk getting him in foul trouble and they make a run because they are capable of making runs on you. That’s why I played him so long in the second half because he deserves to get minutes.”
After a quick 2-0 Auburn lead, West Virginia used a 10-0 run to make it 12-2. The margin swelled to 17, 21-4, on a Ruoff lay up and reached 20, 26-6, on a Ruoff 3.
West Virginia led 44-27 at halftime.
A 9-0 West Virginia run after Quan Prowell’s lay up began the second half put the game out of reach at the 17-minute timeout.
West Virginia’s biggest lead was 37 points after a pair of 3s by Butler and Ruoff with five minutes to go.
“We’re going to take people out of what they want to run. They didn’t run a whole lot of stuff. They tried to run some stuff early and we took it away and they ended up four out and one in,” Huggins said. “We had some errors today that they know better. It’s a day-to-day deal. We have to continue to get better and the more we do the right things the more we’re going to do the right things.”
DeWayne Reed had 19 for Auburn, now 4-2. The Tigers got 10 points from Rasheem Barrett and 8 from Korvotney Barber - eight below his season average of 16.2 points per game heading into tonight’s contest.
Powell, playing his first game after serving a five-game suspension to begin the season, managed just 4 points in 23 minutes of action.
West Virginia (6-1) has a difficult assignment this Saturday facing 6-2 Duquesne at 7 pm and the WVU Coliseum. The Dukes fell, 73-68 at home to No. 8 Pitt and trailed by one, 63-62, with two minutes left in the game.
“They’re full-court pressing, trapping and subbing five guys at a time,” said Huggins of Duquesne. “We’re not going to sub five at a time so we’re going to make sure we’ve got good legs on Saturday night. Fortunately we’ve handled pressure before. Tennessee pressured us so at least we know what to do. We have a frame of reference from which to work with and now we’ve just got to go do what we do.”
All six of West Virginia’s wins this year have been by double digits.
