Big East game No. 2 for the No. 6 ranked Mountaineers at home vs. Marquette.
–The Mountaineers start big with the Butler/Ebanks/Jones/Flowers/Smith lineup.
–The big lineup pays off early as Jones posts up for the first hoop. Then the Mountaineers play volleyball on a sequence that leads to an Ebanks rebound basket and a foul for a 5-0 less than 1:00 in. Jones then posted up again for an easy basket.
–What a mis-match! Ebanks guarded by 5-8 Maurice Aker. Let’s see how long that lasts.
–Truck Bryant into the game at the 7:30 mark of the first half after WVU had turned it over seven times.
–Senior Lazar Haywood has certainly lived up to his billing as a first team pre-season All-Big East selection. Haywood has hit three three point shots in the first 11:00. His season high is four. HIs career high is five made three pointers in a game.
–Took Ebanks awhile to get going tonight. He could not take advantage of that early mismatch, but he energized the WVU offense with back-to-back baskets on dunk and on a follow-up shot to even the score at 22. Ebanks now has seven first half points.
–Key halftime stats: Marquette shot 7-10 from three in the first half. Mountaineers had the rebounding edge 19-12. WVU had ten second chance points off nine offensive rebounds. Eight turnovers cost the Mountaineers as Marquette scored eight points off them.
–Second half began like the game began as West Virginia attacked inside twice with Jones. Ebanks was very effective at the point handling the ball in the first several sets of the second half.
–The Mountaineers are getting great looks inside as they take advantage of the mis-matches. WVU is shooting 73% from the field in the second half at the 10:05 mark, but they trail 52-51. The reason? Turnovers. And the fact that WVU can’t get out on the three point shots. At the 9:08 mark, Darius Johnson-Odom hit Marquette’s 10th three pointer of the game to give the Golden Eagles a 55-51 lead.
–Joe Mazzulla in the game late playing with pain after getting that shoulder bumped a couple of times. Joe finished a shot off with his left hand. First time we’ve seen that all season. Mazzulla tried to shoot the free throw right handed as he missed the rim.