The WVU basketball persevered and pulled out a nice win against a ranked opponent on Tuesday.
At the WVU Coliseum, the Mountaineers defeated Virginia, 68-61. It was a back-and-forth game, which was expected. The West Virginia defense was unable to overpower the Cavaliers, like the unit typically does.
But the defense was able to shut down UVA in the home stretch to pull off an impressive win. The WVU basketball team is now 8-1 on the year and earned a series win against the Cavaliers that dated back to 2015.
Jevon Carter secured the victory by scoring a game-high 23 points. He also had seven assists and two steals. Carter grabbed 10 of the team’s 32 rebounds, which edged the Cavaliers by five. West Virginia had just seven second-chance points and eight points in the paint, which is strange for this team.
Lamont West added 22 points and Daxter Miles scored 12 points. It was Miles’ defensive play down the stretch that threw off Virginia as it was trying to keep pace with the WVU basketball team.
Miles had two steals which came on key possessions for UVA. By disrupting the Cavaliers’ offense, the comeback try was halted in the final minutes. The defense as a whole created 14 turnovers. The Mountaineers had key foul shooting down the stretch going 16 of 18 from the line, even with only having four free throws in the first half.
Devon Hall and Kyle Guy were the top two players for UVA and it was hard to shut them down. Hall scored 19 points to lead the Cavaliers and Guy added 18. Hall also had six assists and ran the offense smoothly.
The game was huge for the WVU basketball team’ confidence. That blowout loss to Texas A&M to open the season seems like lightyears away. This team is strong now and has the ability to compete with anybody in the country.
Next: All-time WVU basketball team
One of the WVU basketball team’s most exciting games this season is now on the horizon. The Backyard Brawl with Pitt returns and these two old rivals will face each other for the first time since 2012 at the Petersen Events Center on Saturday.