The Mountaineers are hosting Rutgers for Big East game #3 of the season.
–WVU has busted out the much talked about black uniforms for their debut tonight. The sharp uniforms feature gold numbers, logos and trim with a blue stripe down the back of the jersey and shorts. "Back in Black" blared from the loud speakers during the announcment of the starting lineups.
–A lot of empty seats in here as the snow and cold (game time temperature in Morgantown was 25-degrees) has kept a lot of people home to watch the game on television.
–Watch Wellington Smith in this one. Smith and Da’Sean Butler both love to play against their home state teams. Smith has combined for 26 points, 11 rebounds and eight blocked shots in the last two games vs. Rutgers.
–Truck Bryant is back in the starting lineup for the Mountaineers tonight with the clear understanding that he needs to distribute the ball more. Bryant hasn’t had a game with more than four assists in WVU’s last four outings.
–The Mountaineers have hit 13 of their first 19 shots from the field. The key being Truck’s distribution. Nice set up of Kevin Jones for a three out of the right corner. Truck and Joe Mazzulla are on the floor togather for the first time in a long time.
–Halftime stats: The Mountaineers have scored 21 points off 13 Rutgers turnovers. The Mountaineers are shooting 56% from the field with 10 assists on 20 first half baskets.
–Early in the second half, Kevin Jones scored first for the Mountaineers as he is 6-7 from the field at this point. Truck Bryant also got an early field goal as he gets into double figures scoring for the game prior to picking up his third foul.
–You can tell that Mazzulla is feeling much better with that shoulder. He has scored a couple of layups with lefthanded drives. Mazzulla nearly took us out at the scorers table as he dove for a loose ball near the WVU bench, crashing into the MSN broadcast position.
–Solid 86-52 win for this WVU team tonight. The Mountaineers are 3-0 in the league, one of five remaining unbeaten teams in conference play. Kevin Jones led the way with 19 points. Truck finished with 15 points on 5-6 shooting from the field. Bryant also had two assists and was key in the offense flowing much better in this one. The Mountaineers turned the ball over just seven times. Rutgers had 20 turnovers as WVU scored 26 points off those turnovers. For the second year in a row, WVU did a very good defensive job on Rutgers leading scorer Mike Rosario. Last year, Rosario was held to just nine shots. This year, Rosario finished 4-14 from the field for 11 points.
–Next up, another trip into the state of Indiana for Saturday night’s 8 p.m. tip time for the game vs. Notre Dame. The Irish improved to 2-1 in Big East play earlier this week with a 74-73 win at South Florida. The Irish blew a 13 point second half lead in that game but recovered to win. Luke Harangody scored 36 points in that one.