Huggins gets No. 800 as WVU kicks Kangaroos 112-67
No. 12 West Virginia (9-1) defeated UMKC 112-67 Saturday afternoon inside the Coliseum putting head coach Bob Huggins into some elite company with his 800th career win.
Huggins is now the tenth coach in NCAA history to reach the 800-win mark plateau and did it in style as the Mountaineers controlled the contest basically from start to finish.
It was another balanced scoring effort, with seven West Virginia players entering double-figures.
Senior forward Nathan Adrian (11-points), sophomore forward Esa Ahmad (12-points), senior forward Brandon Watkins (12-points), junior guard Daxter Miles (12-points), junior guard Jevon Carter (10-points) senior guard Teyvon Myers (10-points) and redshirt freshman Lamont West (10-points) each reaching double figures.
Overall, the Mountaineers forced 27 turnovers, with 20 of those coming in the first half as West Virginia used a 32-2 run to turn an even game into a lopsided one in the opening frame.
The Mountaineers opened the scoring with a basket by Ahmad but the Kangaroos would recapture an advantage at 5-4 with 17:23 left to play in the first half. UMKC continued to hang tough past the 15-minute mark trailing only 10-8 but the Mountaineers would then open things up on a 24-0 run to get the score to 32-8 as the defensive pressure began to agitate the Kangaroos.
The run would end at 24-0 and West Virginia would be in complete control pushing the lead to 38-10 while forcing 12 turnovers in the process. The Mountaineers would use 14 turnovers to score 24 points while UMKC had only 12 points at the 5:58 mark as the home-team took complete control.
The Mountaineers led 49-18 at the 2:09 mark as West Virginia continued to dominate on both ends of the floor as Huggins would rotate 11 different players into the game. At the half, West Virginia would carry a 56-24 advantage as the Mountaineers forced 20 turnovers in that frame turning that into a total of 31 points on the scoreboard.
The Mountaineers would open the second half with a convincing lead and continued to frustrate the Kangaroos with a mix of defensive pressure and offensive rebounding. And West Virginia would cruise in the second half with the game already decided.
Huggins also was able to get valuable time of his reserves in the second half emptying the bench to play all 15-players in the contest.
West Virginia will next play host to Radford Tuesday night at 7 p.m.