Morgantown, W.Va. — It was a complete group effort for West Virginia on Monday night against Oklahoma State. Just over 48 hours after West Virginia looked lifeless, the Mountaineers responded in a big way, beating the Cowboys 85-67 at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
“We had a long talk about basically what we’ve got left. What happens if we win and what happens if we lose,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “I was really disappointed in our effort in the prior game. We’re up eight and we give those eight back in what seems like a matter of five seconds. I just think they were ready because they know they gave one away prior.”
It was defense turning into offense as the Mountaineers went on a slow and methodical run in the first half against the Cowboys. The run lasted 7:22, stretching from just beyond the nine-minute mark of the first half until just more than two minutes to play.
West Virginia (16-12, 5-10 Big 12) would outscore Oklahoma State (16-12, 7-8 Big 12) 20-2 over this stretch, with Erik Stevenson scoring eight points, Mohamed Wague with four, and Tre Mitchell with four. The Mountaineers also got it done on the defensive end, forcing 11 first-half turnovers, leading to 15 points.
“I thought this was our best defensive effort of the year,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “Probably our most complete effort of the year.”
West Virginia held the Cowboys to shoot just 30 percent from the field in the first half, while they made one of their 11 attempted three-pointers. The Mountaineers were effective in getting inside, scoring 18 points in the paint in the first half, as Oklahoma State’s Kalib Boone picked up two quick fouls.
“When our best interior scorer gets in foul trouble early it makes it a little bit of different than you intended,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton said. “Kalib (Boone) picked up two fouls in the first four minutes and we had to go to kind of a different approach, and we weren’t able to capitalize.”
Leading 40-21 at the break, the Mountaineers took their foot off the gas briefly to begin the half. A quick spurt from Oklahoma State put them down 15 within the first four minutes, but the Cowboys would never get closer than 13 for the remainder of the game.
After getting taken down after a hard rebound, there seemed to be a fire lit under Mitchell. Mitchell hammered home a dunk, and then would get dragged to the floor causing a scuffle between himself and Boone. Boone and Mitchell would both be given technical fouls, — Boone earning his fifth — while Mitchell would continue his tear.
“I’m not going to back down from it, I will be just as physical and keep coming at you every time,” Mitchell said. “It’s the Big 12, it’s a very physical league.”
Mitchell would score another nine points, adding to his season-high 22 points. Stevenson would also keep on his hot streak of late, scoring 23 points. Both guys went 8-for-15 from the field, while Stevenson went 5-for-6 from three-point range.
“We had it today and it showed,” Stevenson said. “It was just a good overall effort on both ends of the floor for 40 minutes. And that was our goal today before the game, was play for 40 minutes because if we play for 40 minutes, we can beat anybody.”
Caleb Asberry led Oklahoma State with 14 points, while Bryce Thompson scored another 14. The Cowboys shot 38.5 percent from the field on the night, going 2-for-19 from three-point range. Oklahoma State also committed 18 turnovers to West Virginia’s nine, and their 18 turnovers led to 28 West Virginia points.
“The stat sheet doesn’t always tell the story of the game, but I’m pretty confident the stat saying the stat sheet tells a lot if not all the story tonight,” Boynton said. “2-for-19 from three, 18 turnovers on the road, those just aren’t numbers that are going to get it done very often.”
West Virginia went 7-for-17 from deep and made 44 percent of their field goals. West Virginia allowed only four points off turnovers and outrebounded the Cowboys 39-37.
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