The Mountaineers are hosting 3-3 VMI in a late November home opener following the 1-2 trip to Florida.
–The Mountaineers lacked energy at the start as WVU coach Bob Huggins went to the bench early for role players Kevin Noreen and Keaton Miles. Gary Browne was also inserted early as he has provided energy off the bench in most of these early games. Browne scored a quick two after checking in.
–Freshman Terry Henderson was in the starting lineup for the second consecutive game. He hit his team leading sixth three point shot just after the first media timeout.
–Freshman Eron Harris also got some early minutes in this one. Harris had led the team in scoring during the Marist victory in Florida. But he didn’t play in the Davidson game. He saw the court for just three minutes in the Oklahoma game.
–Harris knocked in his career three point shot to put the Mountaineers up 16-11 with just under 12:00 to play in the first half. The freshman have now combined for eight of WVU’s 16 points so far.
–Gary Browne, again, with some incredible energy with an open court steal where both players went to the floor. Browne out-fought the VMI player for the ball and scored on the offensive end. Browne is at the fore-front of this defensive charge for WVU.
–The Mountaineers are running the floor very well. They’ve had a season long problem of finishing those plays and they have missed some layups here tonight. But defense has sparked a 17-4 run as the Mountaineers lead 28-15 prior to the third media time out.
–Dayton transfer Juwan Staten has led the team in scoring in each of the last two games as he had 15 points in the Davidson game and 15 vs. Oklahoma. Staten has 12 points at the final media time out of the first half to lead WVU so far in this game.
–Keaton Miles started 30 games as a true freshman last year. He never scored more than six points in any one game. Miles had eight in the Oklahoma loss Sunday. He has seven points so far in the first half of this game tonight.
–Half time stats as WVU leads 48-31: WVU has shot 50% from the field including three three point shots. The Mountaineers are also 7-7 from the foul line. They have scored 11 points off nine VMI turnovers. As expected, Stan Okoye has been a matchup problem as he has a game high 15 points on 6-8 shooting from the field.
–Staten and Miles both have career high scoring efforts here early in the second half. Staten’s best scoring effort at Dayton as a freshman was 17 points. He has 18 tonight. Miles has his first career double figures scoring game as he has ten points. Still 12:45 remaining.
–Mountaineer sophomore forward Kevin Noreen was having his ankle worked on in the locker room during half time. Noreen got into the game early. He got a rebound and a foul before coming out quickly. He hasn’t returned to the game.
–The Mountaineers made their first 13 free throws of the night before a Terry Henderson miss at the 9:00 mark. It was Henderson’s first miss of the season after he had made his first three free throw attempts.
–Deniz Kilicli scored 11 points in the second half after scoring just two points in two minutes in the first half. The Mountaineers currently have four players in double figures including freshman Eron Harris.
–Henderson rose off the left baseline for a dunk putting him into double figures for the game as well.
–Gary Browne has a career high seven assists in this game.