MORGANTOWN, W.Va.— West Virginia opened the 2022-2023 regular season on Monday with a roster that featured nine new players. The lack of chemistry was seen throughout their contest against Mount St. Mary’s, as the Mountaineers turned the ball over 18 times.
“I didn’t think we played very well,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said.
Eventually though, West Virginia would prove to be the better team, pulling away in a 76-48 victory to open the season.
“No disrespect to them, I thought [Mount St. Mary’s] played really hard and made some hard shots and so forth,” Huggins said. “We just don’t make rotations, we don’t guard the ball as well as we need to guard the ball, we didn’t rebound it the way we’re capable of rebounding it. And we turned it over 18 times again.”
It certainly wasn’t pretty as West Virginia struggled to get in a rhythm offensively, but the Mountaineers were able to use their defense to score 19 points off 17 forced turnovers.
West Virginia got off to a rocky start in the first half, turning the ball over four times in the first five minutes. West Virginia led 13-12 with 7:41 to play in the first half, but would go on a 15-0 run to open up a 16-point lead.
Seven of the 16 points were scored by Seth Wilson, as West Virginia would go into halftime with a 30-18 lead. Mohamed Wague was a force in the first half as well, securing three rebounds to go along with six points and a steal in the first half.
In the second half, Mount St. Mary’s would continue to hang around and find their offensive footing, scoring 40 points compared to just 18 points in the first half.
“I think the second half was more of a transition game,” Emmitt Matthews said. “They scored 18 in the first half, 40 in the second half, that’s not good on our end.”
The Mountaineers would seem to come to life in the second half, with two blocks from James Okonkwo leading to back-to-back dunks from Emmitt Matthews, putting the Mountaineers ahead 44-29 with 11:48 to play.
“James is getting better and better,” Huggins said. “He is bouncy and he’s quick off his feet.”
Mount Saint Mary’s would not go away though, keeping the deficit within reach for the majority of the second half before West Virginia would pull away.
Tre Mitchell and Erik Stevenson hit two three-pointers on consecutive possessions, to go ahead by 15 with 3:42 to play. The Mountaineers would end up 10-4 run to close the game, with Matthews capping things off with another dunk.
Mitchell would be welcomed back to the team, having not completed a full practice yet, but played 14 minutes, scoring 13 points added with three rebounds.
“He’s going to get a lot better,” Huggins said of Mitchell. “He’s been very, very diligent with his rehab, I think he’s going to get a lot better.”
Mitchell, a Pittsburgh native will go with the rest of the Mountaineers to face Pitt in the Backyard Brawl on Friday at 7:00 p.m.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
