Post by cviller on Dec 24, 2008 12:18:36 GMT -5
It was two days before Christmas and all through the Coliseum not a fan was stirring, not even during the YMCA dance. The crowd was lackluster and so were the Mountaineers for the first 15 minutes. But, for the second game in a row West Virginia (9-2) dismantled their opponent, this time despite a slow start.
“We came out flat,” said head coach Bob Huggins after the game. “We just came out a little flat.”
The Mountaineers only took one shot inside 15 feet in the first five minutes.
“It was a sloppy game,” said Da’Sean Butler. “You could see that we had spurts of energy and ran the floor, but tonight wasn’t our best basketball.”
The Radford Highlanders (3-8) had no answer for Alex Ruoff as the senior guard scored a career-high 38 points to lead the Mountaineers to an 89-54 win. Ruoff’s nine 3-pointers set a new school record for most 3-pointers in a game. Frank Young, Mike Gansey and Chris Leonard each had eight 3-pointers in a game.
Ruoff was just one shot away from scoring 40 points and after the game Cam Thoroughman admitted that the players were trying to get him open shots, but he missed his final three 3-point attempts and finished 9-14 on the night from beyond the arc.
“Everytime I caught the ball I heard the crowd gasp,” said Ruoff. “That was a little too much pressure for me and I couldn’t make so I was glad that Coach took me out of the game with about two minutes to go. I don’t care about the points, I just wanted to win, so I’m happy we got the win.”
Leading scorer Da’Sean Butler spent most of the game on the bench in foul trouble, but still managed 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting. He played just 17 minutes and fouled out with 3:26 to play.
Because of Butler’s foul trouble in the first half, freshman Darryl “Truck” Bryant and Ruoff each played the entire 20 minutes in the first half. Coach Huggins says the Mountaineers have to have two of those three players (Butler, Bryant and Ruoff) on the floor at all times for their scoring abilities.
Bryant was having another great game until he left with what appeared to be a sprained ankle. Bryant played every minute until he turned his ankle with about six minutes to go in the game and limped off to the locker room. He finished with 11 points and five assists. After the game Coach Huggins said that Bryant “tweaked” his ankle when he stepped on another player’s foot.
While the game saw the departure of Bryant to injury it also saw the return of Devin Ebanks who only played 11 minutes against Miami, Ohio Saturday because of ankle and knee injuries. He pulled down a game high 10 rebounds with a wrap on his right knee, and moved much better than on Saturday.
While the intensity may have been low for this one, the Mountaineers still played solid defense, forcing 25 turnovers and getting 13 steals. The hustle was there on the boards as well as West Virginia outrebounded Radford 48-31 and scored 35-second chance points.
For Radford Martell McDuffy hit a couple shot to open the game and finished as the leading scorer for the Highlanders. He and fellow guard Amir Johnson each scored 14 points.
The team is staying in Morgantown for Christmas and will being having Christmas dinner at assistant coach Billy Hahn’s house. They aren’t going home because the Mountaineers have to prepare for a game on Saturday.
Up next for West Virginia is No. 13/15 Ohio State in Columbus. The game tips off at 4:00.
“We came out flat,” said head coach Bob Huggins after the game. “We just came out a little flat.”
The Mountaineers only took one shot inside 15 feet in the first five minutes.
“It was a sloppy game,” said Da’Sean Butler. “You could see that we had spurts of energy and ran the floor, but tonight wasn’t our best basketball.”
The Radford Highlanders (3-8) had no answer for Alex Ruoff as the senior guard scored a career-high 38 points to lead the Mountaineers to an 89-54 win. Ruoff’s nine 3-pointers set a new school record for most 3-pointers in a game. Frank Young, Mike Gansey and Chris Leonard each had eight 3-pointers in a game.
Ruoff was just one shot away from scoring 40 points and after the game Cam Thoroughman admitted that the players were trying to get him open shots, but he missed his final three 3-point attempts and finished 9-14 on the night from beyond the arc.
“Everytime I caught the ball I heard the crowd gasp,” said Ruoff. “That was a little too much pressure for me and I couldn’t make so I was glad that Coach took me out of the game with about two minutes to go. I don’t care about the points, I just wanted to win, so I’m happy we got the win.”
Leading scorer Da’Sean Butler spent most of the game on the bench in foul trouble, but still managed 11 points on 3-of-8 shooting. He played just 17 minutes and fouled out with 3:26 to play.
Because of Butler’s foul trouble in the first half, freshman Darryl “Truck” Bryant and Ruoff each played the entire 20 minutes in the first half. Coach Huggins says the Mountaineers have to have two of those three players (Butler, Bryant and Ruoff) on the floor at all times for their scoring abilities.
Bryant was having another great game until he left with what appeared to be a sprained ankle. Bryant played every minute until he turned his ankle with about six minutes to go in the game and limped off to the locker room. He finished with 11 points and five assists. After the game Coach Huggins said that Bryant “tweaked” his ankle when he stepped on another player’s foot.
While the game saw the departure of Bryant to injury it also saw the return of Devin Ebanks who only played 11 minutes against Miami, Ohio Saturday because of ankle and knee injuries. He pulled down a game high 10 rebounds with a wrap on his right knee, and moved much better than on Saturday.
While the intensity may have been low for this one, the Mountaineers still played solid defense, forcing 25 turnovers and getting 13 steals. The hustle was there on the boards as well as West Virginia outrebounded Radford 48-31 and scored 35-second chance points.
For Radford Martell McDuffy hit a couple shot to open the game and finished as the leading scorer for the Highlanders. He and fellow guard Amir Johnson each scored 14 points.
The team is staying in Morgantown for Christmas and will being having Christmas dinner at assistant coach Billy Hahn’s house. They aren’t going home because the Mountaineers have to prepare for a game on Saturday.
Up next for West Virginia is No. 13/15 Ohio State in Columbus. The game tips off at 4:00.
