WVU basketball holds off Marist at Disney World

The WVU basketball team won and advanced in the Advocare Invitational in Disney World on Thanksgiving night.

It wasn’t always easy, but the Mountaineers improved to 4-1 on the year with an 84-78 win against Marist. The loss dropped Marist to an 0-4 record.

West Virginia was rolling early in this one taking a 39-26 lead into the locker room at halftime. In the second half, though, Marist outscored the WVU basketball team, 52-45. West Virginia led by 15 points at one time in the second half, but that slipped away to three points within the final five minutes.

Jevon Carter led the WVU basketball team with 20 points and Sagaba Konate added 14. Daxter Miles also reached double figures by scoring 12 points. Miles and Carter had seven and four assist, respectively. The Mountaineers found themselves tied up in the second half when Marist made the proper adjustments and switched defenses. West Virginia was handcuffed in certain situations, Bob Huggins told WVUsports.com.

"“They did a great job, they really did. They changed defenses on us, but we rely so much on making 3s that we never threw the ball inside.”"

From behind-the-arc, the WVU basketball team was 8 of 38. Carter was 4 of 11 on 3-pointers. Wesley Harris, Lamont West and Miles were a combined 0 for 11 on 3-pointers. This is obviously not the way the WVU basketball team should be trying to win games. The Mountaineers just couldn’t work the ball inside the way they wanted to. The secret is out against the WVU basketball team. If teams like Marist can figure out West Virginia’s offensive attack, Kansas and other Big 12 Conference teams will have a field day picking it apart.

The defense for the Mountaineers did a solid job forcing 24 turnovers. Carter had four steals while Harris and Chase Harler each had three steals. Harler is making the most of his playing time as a sophomore. He also knocked down a pair of crucial 3-pointers down the stretch to preserve the victory.

The WVU basketball team doesn’t have much time to recover from this Thanksgiving scare. The Mountaineers will face off against Central Florida in a semifinal game of this mini-tournament Friday evening.

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Central Florida likely saw firsthand the way to defend the WVU basketball team. It is now up to head coach Bob Huggins to make the right adjustments for now, and the rest of the season.