Jonathan Holton, Devin Williams and freshman Esa Ahmad each scored 15 points and West Virginia forced an almost unfathomable 55 turnovers Monday night during a 111-39 exhibition victory over IBA Elite in Nassau, Bahamas.
Before leaving on its preseason swing to Atlantis, coach Bob Huggins didn’t sound too concerned about the competition, and the Mountaineers manhandled an IBA Elite squad made up of high school upperclassmen. (The same Bahamas team lost 102-43 to North Florida last week.)
West Virginia snagged 43 steals—including 10 by Daxter Miles and nine by Jaysean Paige—and owned the rebounding 55-22, led by Holton’s 11.
Elijah Macon added 14 points, Jevan Carter finished with 13 points and nine assists, and Paige scored 12 in a game that featured a 24-second shot clock and four 10-minute quarters, per FIBA rules.
“I thought defensively we did some good things,” Huggins said. “We have to continue to get better and not develop bad habits. Overall, we played pretty hard.”
West Virginia committed 27 turnovers of its own, including four each by Tarik Phillip, freshman James Bolden and Williams.
In his 16-minute debut Ahmad, the consensus top-100 recruit, grabbed eight boards, made four steals and shot 5-of-9 from the floor but only 5-of-11 from the foul line, where WVU was 18-of-35 overall.
Fellow freshman Lamont West produced five points and three steals in 10 minutes for WVU, which played without Nathan Adrian (wrist), Brandon Watkins (knee) and Marshall transfer TyQuane Goard.
Up 14-13 midway through the first quarter, West Virginia went on a 50-5 run to lead 64-18 at halftime.
West Virginia continues with exhibitions on Wednesday and Thursday night.