MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — An offensive barrage from West Virginia gave the Mountaineers a big boost Friday against Penn, allowing the Mountaineers to roll to a 92-58 victory at The Coliseum.
In what was the first meeting between the two teams since 1981, the Mountaineers shot an impressive 56 percent from the floor, the second time over the last three games they have shot better than 50 percent.
“I thought we passed the ball better, which was an improvement,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “I thought we got it out in transition a little better than we have been. We’ve got a lot of work to do.”
Guard Erik Stevenson, a South Carolina and Wichita State transfer, led all players with 21 points in the winning effort, his first 20-point performance as a Mountaineer.
West Virginia’s defense also stepped up, forcing 18 turnovers and holding the Quakers to 35 percent shooting from the floor.
Huggins saw room for improvement.
“We lack consistency at the defensive end,” Huggins said. “How many times did they cut back for an open basket? It’s inexcusable.”
Stevenson was the story in the first half. The Mountaineers (4-0) jumped to an early 28-9 lead, and the fifth-year senior contributed 10 points over that time.
The Quakers (1-4) outscored the Mountaineers 11-5 to draw closer, before Stevenson again put on an offensive clinic piling in WVU’s final 10 points of the half, including six from behind the arc, of the half. That allowed the Mountaineers to lead 52-31 heading into the break and Stevenson went to the break with 17 points on 6-of-6 shooting.
“It was just my night,” Stevenson said. “The beauty of this team is that we have six or seven guys that can do that.”
West Virginia’s 56 percent shooting this evening was its highest mark since a January 25, 2021 game against Texas Tech.
“It’s a matter of us being in the gym more than last year,” guard Kedrian Johnson. “I don’t think it’ll drop off one bit. We only had Taz [Sherman] and Sean [McNeil] making shots [last year].”
West Virginia’s bench provided a spark with 36 points, including Iowa transfer Joe Toussaint’s 11 points. WVU’s bench total brings its season average to 36 points over first four games.
Stevenson made 8-of-9 shots.
The Mountaineers also benefited from double-figure performances from Johnson and Texas transfer Tre Mitchell, who contributed 11 points each.
West Virginia had only seven turnovers, made 12-of-23 3-pointers, including 6 of 7 to start, and connected on 20-of-26 free throws.
Clar Slajchert led the Quakers with 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Guard Jordan Dingle, Penn’s top scorer at nearly 20 points per game, did not play after appearing in each of the team’s first four games.
WVU heads west next week for the Phil Knight Invitational in Portland and faces Purdue on Thursday in the first of three games.
After Penn held a 38-29 rebounding edge, Huggins believes his team’s rebounding effort needs improvement before matching up against the Boilermakers’ abundance of size.
“We’ve got a lot of work to do,” Huggins said. “We don’t rebound a ball the way we need to rebound a ball. We don’t rebound it defensively the way we need to, and we don’t rebound it offensively the way we need to.”