WVU Basketball: Mountaineers Get Clobbered by Villanova on the Road, 66-50

With the chemistry blending together for the shorthanded Mountaineers in the past two weeks, it was back to square one after a blowout by the No. 12 Villanova Wildcats Saturday afternoon.

West Virginia was able to get a strong start on the Wildcats, jumping out to a 10-4 lead as the game tipped off in Philadelphia, and Jay Wright was trying to figure out the Mountaineer offense.

After a timeout by Villanova, the aforementioned lead that WVU was enjoying slowly began getting picked away at by Corey Fisher and the Villanova offense as WVU lost the early momentum.

Late in the first half, Casey Mitchell entered the game off his suspension by Coach Huggins doing more harm than good, as he accounted for two turnovers in addition to grabbing down two rebounds in 13 minutes.

With the offensive no-show by Mitchell, Villanova was able to take a sizeable lead into halftime with the Mountaineers trailing the No. 12 team in the country 30-19 at the break.

For the Wildcats, Corey Fisher was the catalyst for the offense as he knocked down 11 points in addition to Antonio Pena contributing six points in the first. On the other bench, John Flowers had 10 points in the first 20 minutes for the Mountaineers.

Coming out of the break, the Mountaineers offense sputtered as the Wildcats went on a major run in the middle of the half breaking the game open for the home team leading to their 19th win this season, seventh win in the Big East. With the loss, WVU drops to 6-4 in the Big East with an overall record of 15-7.

With that being said, let’s get to the stats from the game showing how the Mountaineers were outmuscled at their own game this afternoon.

Players of the Game

West Virginia: Kevin Jones- 16 Points, Six Rebounds, Two Assists, Steal

Villanova: Corey Fisher – 16 Points, Two Rebounds, Five Assists, Steal

Shooting

West Virginia: 19-53 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 35.8 Percent

Villanova: 25-46 Field Goals Made-Attempted, 54.3 Percent

Free Throw Shooting

West Virginia: 5-12 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 41.7 Percent

Villanova: 9-15 Free Throws Made-Attempted, 60 Percent

Rebounding

West Virginia: 24 Rebounds, 12 Offensive Rebounds

Villanova: 26 Rebounds, Six Offensive Rebounds

Turnovers

West Virginia: Nine

Villanova: Eight

This Mountaineers article and others like it can be found at Sports Haze.