West Virginia shortened its bench and tightened the proverbial buckle in knocking off Iowa State 90-75 in the final home game on Wednesday. It was a feel-good story to a subpar season, as Jermaine Haley, Lamont West, Derek Culver and Jordan McCabe led the Mountaineers to an explosive first half and a workmanlike second that saw them knock off an NCAA Tournament team and pull out of the Big 12 cellar. We get into the nuts and bolts of how the upset was built in The Full 40.
HOT
First half run. West Virginia tore the game open with a 12-0 run that would eventually morph into a 19-2 overall push that turned a 20-18 Iowa State lead into a 37-22 WVU romp. The Mountaineers hit three three-pointers and four lay-ups during the run, getting nearly anything they wanted both inside and out against the Cyclones. The 19 points in 21 scored came over a stretch of six-plus minutes, and left ISU without an answer on defense.
The run slowed but didn’t halt even into the half. With West Virginia ahead the 15 points at 37-22, the Mountaineers continued to hit shots, including a trio of threes over the final 2:08 to surge to a 54-33 lead at the break. The numbers were both sizzling and staggering: 57.5 percent shooting from the field, 44.4 from three-point range. WVU connected on 8-of-18 threes, and were seldom pestered inside in getting 24 points in the paint while shooting just a single free throw. It was certainly the best offensive performance, in terms of shots made, for West Virginia in conference play this season.
Jermaine Haley. Twenty points at the half and a career-best 28 overall that chases consecutive career-bests over his previous two games. In the last three, Haley has scored 18, 23 and 28 points. That doesn’t mean he was always excellent. Against Oklahoma, Haley went for 23, but turned the ball over and was a reason the Sooners made a run to retake the lead.
Haley was very good in this one, going 13-of-20 from the floor (9-of-11 in the first half), with two threes and seven rebounds. He again had four turnovers, but helped offset that with three assists, three steals and a block. Nicely done from the junior.
