Mountaineers Clobber Marquette

.......Consider the preview for today's game..."In recent years, the Golden Eagles have struggled to defend the perimeter" .....ugh.


West Virginia set school and Big East conference records with 20 made three-pointers as the Mountaineers exploited a porous Marquette defense to win 104-85 this afternoon in Morgantown.

Mike Gansey led the Mountaineers with a career-high 33 points on 8-of-11 from behind the arc, and Kevin Pittsnogle was dominant in the second half, finishing with 30. West Virginia improved to 4-0 in the Big East and 12-3 overall. Marquette fell to 2-2 in league play and 12-5 overall.

The Mountaineers used an 21-7 run midway through the second half to run up a 73-56 lead with eleven minutes to play and coasted from there. The West Virginia run was keyed by the offensively efficient Pittsnogle, who connected on a series of three pointers during the run. Marquette had no answers in the second half, as the turnover-prone Golden Eagles routinely sacrificed possessions and failed to defend the perimeter. MU finished with 21 turnovers while forcing just five.

Dominic James led MU with a career-high 28, including 19 in the irst half. James also grabbed six rebounds and handed out eight assists as he further strengthened his case for Big East Freshman of the Year honors.

In the first half, MU withstood an incredible three-point shooting barrage from the Mountaineers and entered halftime down only 48-43 after trailing by as many as 12 early. During the first half, West Virginia connected on 12 of 25 three-pointers, keyed by 20 points from Gansey.

Joe Chapman played well off the bench for MU, finishing with a season high 18 points. Jamil Lott also turned in a nice performance, contributing 8 points. Remarkably, MU shot nearly 57% from the field this afternoon --- and lost by 19 points.

The second half was a different story, as the Golden Eagles were unable to get Steve Novak going. Novak, coming off a 25 point outing at Seton Hall, managed only 6 points on 2 of 8 shooting.

MU next visits the DePaul Blue Demons on January 17.

Here is the Yahoo box score.

Here is the ESPN recap.

Here is the sportsnetwork recap.

Here is the gomarquette recap.