Mountaineers Climb Out of Early Hole and Then Some

BUFFALO, N.Y. -- A lot of face-saving was at stake when West Virginia took the HSBC Arena floor Friday against Morgan State. And eight minutes into the game, the faces were still gravely endangered.

The Mountaineers, seeded second in the NCAA tournament's East Region, were still testy about not getting a No. 1 seed after rolling through the Big East tournament last week. Meanwhile, their conference's reputation was on the line after a disaster of a first day Thursday, when the best news had been Villanova barely escaping an upset by Robert Morris.

Yet the next day, West Virginia came out of the blocks slowly and tentatively, missed its first nine shots and let Morgan State -- like Robert Morris a 15th-seed -- get momentum and a 10-0 lead. The Bears were still up 14-5 with 11:56 left in the first half. The Mountaineers didn't even hit a basket until nearly eight minutes had gone by, and Da'Sean Butler, on a roll coming into the tournament and the player Morgan State had to control if it were to have any shot at staying close, didn't hit a field goal until less than four minutes remained in the half.

However, whether it was rust, nerves, the early start time or an energized opponent, West Virginia had scraped all of them off by halftime. Once its jumpers started to fall, Butler's teammates started picking him up and the team's advantage athletically took over, West Virginia took control and kept it. By the time that first Butler field goal (a short jumper from the right of the lane) fell, West Virginia had taken the lead and was in the middle of a run of 11 straight points. The Mountaineers coasting in from there, led by 11 at halftime, and won 77-50 for a berth in the second round.

For what it's worth, once play began West Virginia stopped thinking about both their own seeding disputes and the Big East's three losses Thursday. "We're our own team,'' Butler said. "Granted, we're in the same conference and we wish our conference teams well. We're a different team from everybody else. We do different things. At the end of the day, we had to worry about ourselves.''

And for a long time, that was a lot to worry about. "These damn 40-minute games,'' joked Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman. "If we'd had it (end) at 12, we would've won the game.''

West Virginia would have lost a lot of games under those rules, coach Bob Huggins hinted. "They've done it all year,'' he said. "We have not gotten out of the gate very good in the majority of games. For whatever reason, I'm not sure what it is, but I thought we were ready to play. I didn't think it was a matter of us not being ready to play. I just didn't think we attacked them very well.''

Butler ended up getting a lot of help. Kevin Butler led all scorers with 17 points, 13 in the first half to jump-start the offense. Devin Ebanks finished with 16 points and 13 rebounds, and after he finally broke the ice with a runner in the lane with 12:16 left (with Morgan already up 12-3), he totaled 10 in the half, all in those final 12 minutes, opening things up inside and outside. West Virginia (28-6) got 22 points from its bench. Butler finished with nine points.

West Virginia shot only 4 of 15 on three-pointers, most of the carnage coming in the first eight minutes, when they kept settling for jumpers late in the shot clock against Morgan's 2-3 zone. The Mountaineers slowly chipped away at the lead, though, tying it at 19 after Morgan State sophomore center Kevin Thompson's second foul with 7:22 left in the first half. West Virginia outscored the Bears (27-10) 21-8 the rest of the half. Joe Mazzulla's finish off a steal at the other end, and ensuing free throw, put West Virginia up for good at 22-21 with 5:42 left in the half.

Asked about Thompson's absence, Bozeman said, "I'm answering that without taking anything away from West Virginia ... but our margin for error is very slim. We have depth, but that's Big East depth on the other side.''


Key Element
West Virginia didn't kick into gear until it started hitting outside shots over Morgan State's zone. It took the Mountaineers nearly nine minutes to do that, and for a while only Kevin Jones could do it. When everyone else joined in (and when Thompson sat), the floor opened up, and West Virginia began to dominate.

Game Ball Goes To
Jones, who woke West Virginia out of its noontime slumber by scoring nine straight points midway through the first half. When he started, Morgan State led 14-5; when he was done the deficit was down to 17-14, and three minutes later the Mountaineers took the lead for good. "He was just hitting shot after shot,'' said teammate Wellington Smith. "That's the way it is with our team. Somebody different just steps up every night.''

Heart Goes Out To
Morgan State senior Reggie Holmes, who was among the top 10 scorers in the country all season, finished his career with more than 2,000 points and was instrumental in reviving the program. But in his last appearance on the big stage, he missed 12 of his first 13 shots, including a couple of airballs, and scored just 12 points. When he came out with 31 seconds left, coach Todd Bozeman gave him a long, tear-filled hug as the Morgan fans chanted his name.

What's Next
West Virginia plays the winner of the Clemson-Missouri game on Sunday in the second round. The Mountaineers did not face an ACC opponent this season; they defeated Texas A&M from the Big 12 73-66 in November.

Quotable

Bozeman, on having held Butler in check: "They aren't giving us any trophies for it. When they talk about it on SportsCenter tonight, they'll still just say we got drubbed.''