Seton Hall Afterthoughts
WVU's Devin Ebanks had 16 points to go along with his 6 rebounds - all offensive rebounds.
WVillustrated.com Photo by David Miller
By Heather Richardson for wvillustrated.com
February 21, 2010
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – All of the cards were in favor of a solid West Virginia victory yesterday afternoon. After all, the No. 8 Mountaineers were scheduled to take on unranked Seton Hall in their home court on a Saturday afternoon.
What could be more perfect?
Well, Bob Huggins happens to think a lot of things could have been more perfect yesterday—starting with their recurring shooting problem. The Mountaineers shot under 38 percent of their field goals on the afternoon.
“We had every opportunity to put the game away, but we continue to miss free throws at inopportune times and not run offense when it’s time to run offense,” said a disgruntled Huggins. “You can only talk to them so much about it, and at this point in time of the year, it’s going to come down to guys are going to come and sit down and watch because we’re not going to continue to do this.”
Fortunately for Mountaineers fans, their less-than-perfect play is still good enough to find victories.
While the Mountaineers found a 75-63 win over the Pirates, the numbers are very misleading to those who didn’t catch the game.
West Virginia had a comfortable lead at the half, and started out the second half on a good note with a 19-point lead with a little over 16 minutes on the clock.
Things quickly went downhill from there. Seton Hall went on a 16-5 spurt, bringing WVU’s lead down to eight. In the closing nine minutes of the game, the team went 0-7 and committed three turnovers that almost aided the Pirates in handing over the upset of the year on the Coliseum floor.
While the Mountaineers know how to give a game away, they also know how to take it back.
Fortunately, a few game-saving free throws from Wellington Smith saved the day, powering WVU to victory.
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WVU sophomore Kevin Jones had 3 blocks, 16 points, and 9 boards in the 75-63 victory over Seton Hall Saturday, February 20, 2010. WVillustrated.com Photo by David Miller
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Devin Ebanks continued his late season hot streak, adding 16 points and six rebounds to the board.
“Devin has really been focused on doing the right things,” said Huggins.
Despite the Mountaineers finding win no. 21 of the season, Bob Huggins isn’t impressed as they enter one of the most critical stretches of their season.
“I thought it was a very uninspired effort by us, it was very uninspired by the students and very uninspired by everybody around Morgantown today, I guess,” said Huggins.
The Coliseum’s just-under 12,000 attendance tally was the lowest since WVU faced Rutgers on Jan. 6 when the students were still on winter break.
Hopefully, the team will have time to catch their breath and the fans will fill the seats as Huggins and the boys face 16-11 UConn on Big Monday.After Monday, only three games remain in the regular season against Cincinnati, Georgetown and Villanova.
It’s a crucial period for the Mountaineers. If they can hold on to the third-place spot in conference standings, they will enter the BIG EAST tournament with a guaranteed first-round bye.
And I have a sneaking suspicion that if Bob Huggins has anything to say about it, they won’t be giving up that bye without the fight of a lifetime.
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