MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Overcoming a lethargic start, West Virginia rode Devin Williams and Elijah Macon in the paint and dominated Stetson 103-62 on Friday night.
Williams produced 23 points and 10 rebounds, clinching his third straight double-double after a late-game re-entry, and Macon scored a career-high 18 points.
Jaysean Paige pitched in 19 points and Daxter Miles Jr. added 13 for West Virginia (3-0), which sank only 5-of-21 from 3-point range but manhandled the Hatters inside.
BOXSCORE: West Virginia 103, Stetson 62
Leo Goodman’s 14 points paced Stetson (0-3), which was outscored 60-22 in the lane, outrebounded 50-29 and held to 31-percent shooting.
Played before an announced crowd of 8,268 at the WVU Coliseum, the matchup was the first of two preliminaries before next week’s Las Vegas Invitational. (Bethune-Cookman provides the next tuneup Monday night.)
Pulled from the game with 4:37 left, Williams had only nine rebounds and said “I literally almost cried.” He returned at the 1:37 mark after lobbying coach Bob Huggins.
“I’m passionate about it,” Williams said. “I’m not a selfish player or anything like that because everything I do is for the team, but I came here to rebound. That’s all I want to do, and at the same time, I want to keep my streak alive any way I can.
“I need 10-plus rebounds. The scoring will come. What’s going to get me paid and to the next level, is me rebounding. I have to be relentless.”
The Mountaineers—whose 57-percent shooting was their highest figure in 67 games (dating back to a Nov. 13, 2013, win over Duquesne)—also got 11 points and eight boards from freshman Esa Ahmad.
Working mostly at point-blank range, Macon hit 8-of-8 shots and matched his personal best with seven rebounds. “He’s our best finisher around the goal,” said Huggins, who wasn’t as complimentary of Macon’s defense. “I just don’t want his man to be the other team’s best finisher around their goal.”
Very little about the blowout margin satiated Huggins, whose team forced 19 turnovers but committed 18 themselves.
“We didn’t come to play, and we were very flat yesterday in practice too,” he said. “I didn’t think we played very well.”
“I think we thought we just had to show up and win. I think we’ve lost our edge a little bit. We didn’t play hard by our standards.”
Even Tarik Phillip’s stat line—10 assists, one turnover, four steals—didn’t stop Huggins from complaining about the reserve point guard failing to get West Virginia into the proper halfcourt set. Starter Jevon Carter, who came in averaging 21.5 points, finished with four points on 2-of-6 shooting in 17 minutes.
A topsy-turvy first half found West Virginia trailing by eight before scoring 27 points in the final 6:54 to pull ahead 51-35. Unstoppable around the basket, Williams outscored Stetson’s starters 16-13 in the half and outrebounded them 7-6.
The foul-plagued Hatters put West Virginia in the bonus before the game’s first media timeout and saw reserve forward Drew Romich foul out 4:58 before halftime.
Paige profits: After scoring a combined 13 points in WVU’s first two wins, Paige made 7-of-9 against Stetson, including 3-of-5 from deep.
“I’ve worked to get more clean step-in shots. I’ve tried to take better shots,” he said. “I need to take good shots and lead by example, so that everyone else can take good shots. I don’t or I don’t want any of my teammates jacking up off balanced shots. That’s not good.”
Macon emerges: Perhaps no one was happier with Macon’s effort than Williams, who said opponents essentially were double-teaming him on boxouts last season.
“It’s good and it helps me. All the weight doesn’t go on me. Hopefully it makes our opponents play us honest when the time comes. When they go to read the scouting report, they’ll see all three with me, Elijah and Jon (Holton) that you have box out all of us. If we’re all clicking at the same time, it’ll just makes us better.”