http://www.wvusports.com/page.cfm?story=29147&cat=exclusives
Devin Williams scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead 22nd-ranked West Virginia to a 67-59 victory over Richmond Thursday afternoon at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
West Virginia’s eight-point victory over the Spiders puts the Mountaineers in the championship game of the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. (ET) against either San Diego State or 12th-ranked California.
That game will be televised nationally on FSN1.
Today, Williams made nine of 11 field goal attempts and pulled down a game-best five offensive rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
He becomes the first player since All-American Rod Thorn in 1960-61 to start the season with five straight double-doubles. Thorn had six straight double-doubles to begin that season.
“Devin was absolutely terrific,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “I thought Devin was a man and I thought Esa (Ahmad) made some good plays for us when we were struggling.”
West Virginia (5-0) led by 12 at one point in the first half before taking a 35-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Mountaineers led by eight midway through the second half but couldn’t shake off the pesky Spiders, who came into today’s game with a 3-1 record that includes a road win at Wake Forest.
Richmond was averaging 90.8 points and shooting better than 50 percent from the floor coming into this afternoon, but could manager just 59 points on 39.1 percent shooting. The Spiders hit only two of their 15 3-point tries, including missing all seven in the second half.
“For the most part we got pretty good pressure on them,” said Huggins. “All we talked about was chase them off the (3-point line). We could stand in there and let them shoot it because they shoot it really well.”
Forward Terry Allen led Richmond with 20 points, the senior getting half of those from the free throw line. There were a combined 52 fouls called in the game with two disqualifications, T.J. Cline for Richmond and Nathan Adrian for West Virginia.
“I was like, ‘Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four (fouls).’ ‘Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four.’ Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four.’ That makes it hard to play,” said Huggins. “All this stuff about we’re trying to improve our game … wow.”
Jevon Carter was the only other WVU player to reach double figures with 13 points.
West Virginia also struggled to make shots, hitting just 43.8 percent of its field goal tries, including 15.4 percent from 3.
This is the second straight year the Mountaineers have started the season 5-0; last year the Mountaineers were 7-0 before falling to LSU, 74-73, in the Big 12-SEC Challenge in Morgantown.
“If we would have lost I probably would have punched the turkey,” Huggins said. “We didn’t play very well – we didn’t make any shots – and then for a while there we didn’t guard very well so we’ve got to do a better job.”
Huggins said on his postgame radio show that guard Jaysean Paige sprained his ankle during today’s game, but his hopeful he will be able to go tomorrow night in the championship game.
Devin Williams scored 23 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to lead 22nd-ranked West Virginia to a 67-59 victory over Richmond Thursday afternoon at Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
West Virginia’s eight-point victory over the Spiders puts the Mountaineers in the championship game of the Continental Tires Las Vegas Invitational tomorrow night at 10:30 p.m. (ET) against either San Diego State or 12th-ranked California.
That game will be televised nationally on FSN1.
Today, Williams made nine of 11 field goal attempts and pulled down a game-best five offensive rebounds for his fifth double-double of the season.
He becomes the first player since All-American Rod Thorn in 1960-61 to start the season with five straight double-doubles. Thorn had six straight double-doubles to begin that season.
“Devin was absolutely terrific,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “I thought Devin was a man and I thought Esa (Ahmad) made some good plays for us when we were struggling.”
West Virginia (5-0) led by 12 at one point in the first half before taking a 35-31 lead into the locker room at halftime.
The Mountaineers led by eight midway through the second half but couldn’t shake off the pesky Spiders, who came into today’s game with a 3-1 record that includes a road win at Wake Forest.
Richmond was averaging 90.8 points and shooting better than 50 percent from the floor coming into this afternoon, but could manager just 59 points on 39.1 percent shooting. The Spiders hit only two of their 15 3-point tries, including missing all seven in the second half.
“For the most part we got pretty good pressure on them,” said Huggins. “All we talked about was chase them off the (3-point line). We could stand in there and let them shoot it because they shoot it really well.”
Forward Terry Allen led Richmond with 20 points, the senior getting half of those from the free throw line. There were a combined 52 fouls called in the game with two disqualifications, T.J. Cline for Richmond and Nathan Adrian for West Virginia.
“I was like, ‘Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four (fouls).’ ‘Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four.’ Can I put him in?’ ‘No he has four.’ That makes it hard to play,” said Huggins. “All this stuff about we’re trying to improve our game … wow.”
Jevon Carter was the only other WVU player to reach double figures with 13 points.
West Virginia also struggled to make shots, hitting just 43.8 percent of its field goal tries, including 15.4 percent from 3.
This is the second straight year the Mountaineers have started the season 5-0; last year the Mountaineers were 7-0 before falling to LSU, 74-73, in the Big 12-SEC Challenge in Morgantown.
“If we would have lost I probably would have punched the turkey,” Huggins said. “We didn’t play very well – we didn’t make any shots – and then for a while there we didn’t guard very well so we’ve got to do a better job.”
Huggins said on his postgame radio show that guard Jaysean Paige sprained his ankle during today’s game, but his hopeful he will be able to go tomorrow night in the championship game.
