MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia’s Jevon Carter was back on the floor and out of Bob Huggins’ doghouse.
The point guard, benched during Tuesday’s loss to No. 10 Virginia after throwing away a behind-the-back pass, returned with 19 first-half points and made five steals to fuel the No. 14 Mountaineers in a 100-58 blowout of Louisiana-Monroe on Sunday.
“Huggs is a legend and he did what he did on Tuesday for a reason. I don’t blame him. I probably would have done the same thing,” Carter said.
“That’s how he is and I know that’s how he is. It was the next game and I knew both of us had to move on like it didn’t happen. I just I know I won’t make that mistake again.”
While Carter’s 21 points were more than his combined output from the last three games, West Virginia (8-1) made a season-high 15 3-pointers as Louisiana-Monroe (4-5) played a sinking zone defense.
Devin Williams finished with 12 points and 10 rebounds, and Daxter Miles Jr. scored 16 of his 18 points in the second as West Virginia crushed the team picked third in the Sun Belt.
The Warhawks, despite a career-best 19 points from 6-9 forward Jamaal Samuel, weren’t as competitive as Saturday’s 54-50 loss at Penn State. Given virtually no time to prepare for one of the nation’s most troublesome presses, Louisiana-Monroe committed 21 turnovers.
ULM also missed Majok Deng (18.3 points, 7.3 rebounds), who was sidelined for the third straight game with a leg injury.
West Virginia committed only five turnovers and handed out 19 assists, including four from backup point guard Tarik Phillip, who contributed 10 points and four rebounds.
Jaysean Paige scored 14 points on 4-of-8 from 3-point range, catching fire after WVU entered the game shooting only 27 percent from deep, among the worst figures in the nation.
“We try not to live on the 3-point line, but when shots go in it’s great for us,” Paige said. “It gives everyone confidence to knock them down, and it puts pressure on the defense. Defenses can’t pack the lane and stay inside the lane. When we hit shots, it spaces the floor, so we can get it to our bigs or dribble, drive and penetrate the defense.”
Carter, after shooting 1 of 9 against Virginia, opened with three straight misses before hitting 7 of 9 to close the half. His 3-pointer at the 17:35 mark put West Virginia ahead to stay at 8-7 and jumpstarted a 26-4 run.
“Huggs is a legend and he did what he did on Tuesday for a reason. I don’t blame him. I probably would have done the same thing. … I just I know I won’t make that mistake again.”— Jevon Carter
During a 2-minute span late in the half, Carter scored 12 unanswered points, including a trio of 3s, that stretched the gap to 57-22.
“I was feeling better coming into the game because in the Garden, I couldn’t hit anything,” Carter said. “So I was really focused on making some shots tonight”
The nine 3s West Virginia made in the opening half more than doubled their per-game average.
A jumper by walk-on Richard Romeo with 23 seconds left pushed West Virginia across the 100-point threshold for the third time this season.
Nathan Adrian scored only four points but handed out four assists and claimed six of WVU’s 26 offensive rebounds, helping the Mountaineers to a 48-27 rebounding edge overall.
With Samuel producing Louisiana-Monroe’s first 15 points, none of his teammates scored a basket until Travis Munning’s layup when 5:31 remained in the half. Munning finished with 12 points and the Warhawks shot 51 percent as a team, but the flurry of turnovers and inability to rebound meant 41 fewer shot attempts than West Virginia.