After a disappointing showing against rival Pittsburgh last week, the West Virginia men’s basketball team bounced back on Wednesday defeating Iona 86-43.
The Mountaineers played well defensively throughout, forcing turnovers and holding Iona to under 24% shooting. WVU shot over 48% from beyond the arc and 51.8% from the field.
West Virginia guard Javon Small led all scorers with 23 points. He also had five assists, five rebounds, four steals and a block.
Both teams didn’t score for the first two minutes. The first score of the game came at 17:52 with a Tucker DeVries three-pointer.
By the U16 timeout in the first half, WVU led 11-5. DeVries made an impact early, with five points, two rebounds, a block and a block.
The Mountaineers began to pull ahead, making a 10-0 run after the U16 timeout. Powell made his presence known after coming off the bench. He had 11 points in four minutes while shooting 100% from three on three attempts.
West Virginia continued to shoot extremely well, nearing the midway point of the first half, and continued to do so as the half winded down while also playing solid defense. They went on a 12-0 run that lasted over six minutes and led by 20+ for a bit.
After going scoreless for six minutes, Iona made two unanswered shots in under a minute cutting down WVU’s large lead. West Virginia went scoreless for nearly five minutes before Javon Small capitalized on an and-one.
At halftime, West Virginia led 45-22 after a 6-0 run just before the half. They forced 15 turnovers and held Iona to under 30% shooting in the first half.
Holding a comfortable lead heading into the second half, WVU looked to keep up with its first-half performance and successfully close out its third win.
Both teams came out of the locker rooms fairly cold shooting-wise. There was minimal scoring early into the second half.
They would begin to pick it up after the U16 media timeout but struggled to find consistency. Ultimately, it continued to be a low-scoring half.
However, with around five minutes left to play, West Virginia was on a 9-0 run and began to sub-out starters as they soon led by 40. WVU fifth-year senior Jake Auer hit two threes coming off the bench.
With a 86-43 win West Virginia improves to 3-1 on the season. They’ll face a tough test in their next contest, matching up with No. 3 Gonzaga in the first game of the Battle 4 Atlantis next week.
