West Virginia men's basketball begins the journey back from a losing season tonight in the 2022-23 season opener at home against Mount St. Mary's. In the 114th season and 120th year of WVU basketball, this is the earliest a season has started. The Mountaineers, who have had an intrasquad scrimmage, a private scrimmage against Dayton and a charity exhibition against Bowling Green, may have some reinforcements.
Former UMass and Texas transfer Tre Mitchell and junior college all-American Pat Suemnick are both in uniform and warming up for WVU. Neither newcomer has participated in any of the team's three preseason events. Mitchell was recovering from a foot injury and Suemnick from knee surgery to remove loose material. Both are game-time decisions.
A season ago, Mount St. Mary's finished 14-16 but with a 9-9 record in the MAAC. TheotherMountaineers were picked to finish 10th in the 11-team MAAC. Mount St. Mary's is 0-5 all-time against WVU and 0-2 against Bob Huggins-led teams. All five games were at the Coliseum.
This is the 41th season as a head coach for WVU's Bob Huggins, who was enshrined into the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame in September. One of 17 Division I coaches to spend 41 or more years on the bench, he begins as the second-winningest coach among active coaches, trailing only Jim Boeheim. Owning 916 wins, Huggins will reach 400 losses with his next defeat.
First half
-- WVU will start Kedrian Johnson, Erik Stevenson, Kobe Johnson, Emmitt Matthews and Jimmy Bell.
-- Ke. Johnson with a turnover for an offensive foul -- after initiating contact twice before -- on the opening possession. The season begins with a turnover.
-- Matthews with a defensive rebound. He transitions, drives and dishes to Stevenson for an open 3. It rattles out. Matthews gets the rebound andhits Ko. Johnson on the baseline. The pass and layup are good for the first points of the season.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) November 8, 2022The first basket of the season ??
[ courtesy of @KobeJohnson930 ] pic.twitter.com/KnJAUQdppT
-- Matthews with a turnover trying to pass inside from the high post. Stevenson with a foul on defense. Jalen Benjamin misses two free throws. There's a promotion for free something for the crowd when if an opponent missesback-to-back free throws. Check that one off the list already.
-- Bell is posting up so deep under the basket that he steps out of bounds. Three turnovers in four possessions.
-- Stevenson throws an arm up as he leans into a passing lane. Steal. Layup. It's 4-0.
-- After a scoreless 4:01, a jumper by Dakota Leffew gets MSM on the board. Mohamed Wague follows with a basket. It's 6-2.
-- That's the score at the first media timeout.MSM is 1-for-8 with two turnovers. WVU is 3-for-6 with four turnovers.
-- MSM gets an open inside-out 3 when play resumes. Stevenson has the ball stolen and commits his second foul in transition. He'll sit with 14:49 to go in the half.
-- Binghamton George Tinsley gets a step-in 3 for an 8-6 lead.
-- Buckets by Joe Toussaint and Wague restore the lead at 10-8, but MSM gets a score in the paint to tie the score as we hit the under-12 timeout.MSH has made 4 of 5 shots. WVU has missed 5 of 7. Mitchell will enter when play resumes. WVU has the ball with 13 seconds on the shot clock.
-- Shot-clock violation out of the timeout. Not sure they knew the shot clock hadn't reset.
-- Mitchell with a 3 on his first touch.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) November 8, 20223?? for 3??
-- Both teams have missed their last four shots. Inside, outside, makeable. Not a ton of defense on these. It's 13-10 at we hit the under-8 timeout. Mitchell's second foul sends us to the break.
-- MSM goes 2-for-2 at the line on a one-and-one. WVU has committed eight fouls, MSM has committed two.
-- Seth Wilson ends the scoring drought with a jumper for a 15-12 lead.
-- Ke. Johnson uses a high screen from Bell to curl around the defense, and Matthews lobs a pass for a catch and a score. It's 17-12, which is WVU's largest lead.
-- Matthews drives the baseline and hits James Okonkwo for an open jumper and a 19-12 lead. Matthews has three assists. MSM has four baskets.
-- At the under-4 timeout, WVU has extended to a 21-12 lead. The 8-0 run overlaps with MSM missing nine straight shots and 10 of 11.
-- Seth Wilson's second bucket of the game and the run is a straight-on 3 that hits the back iron and rolls in. MSM misses, Wilson misses and Matthews scores on the rebound. It's 26-12 and MSM finally calls a timeout with 2:26 left in the half. This is a 13-0 run over 5:17 with 11 straight missed shots.
-- Wouls were 8-2 in favor of MSM. They're 8-7 now. Wague misses the front end of the one-and-one, but Okonkwo gets the rebound and feeds Wilson. He misses a 3 but Wague gets the rebound and scores for a 28-12 lead.
-- The prolonged run ends with a deep 3 from Benjamin.
-- WVU calls the use-it-or-lose-it timeout with 42.6 seconds left in the half. Wague turns it over with his second illegal screen of the game. MSM scores on the extra possession. Matthews misses a long runner at the buzzer.
-- Halftime: WVU 30, MSM 18
Second half
-- Stevenson is trying to make up for time lost to fouls in the first half. A defensive rebound, a drive and a layup. A defensive rebound and a pass to Matthews, who quickly passes to Ke. Johnson for a 3. Matthews has two points, five rebounds and four assists. It's 35-20 as MSM calls timeout.
-- First media timeout of the half comes with WVU ahead 35-22. MSM is 1-for-7. WVU is 2-for-3 but has four turnovers.
-- Matthews with a 3. WVU is 2-for-2 this half after going 2-for-13 in the first half.
-- Now Matthews drives and unrolls a layup off the glass. He picked his spots in the Bowling Green game, too.
-- Corner 3 for Deandre Thomas. He's MSM's shooter -- a career 41-percent guy -- and Huggins calls timeout, presumably for leaving him wide open.
-- Matthews has thrown Tinsley in a blender. Back-to-back misses for MSM, and Matthews just outruns Tinsley in transition to catch passes from Wilson first and then Toussaint and get dunks. It's 44-29 at the under-12 timeout.
?? take off @THEDOOSKIE pic.twitter.com/nWGxFEvClN
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) November 8, 2022
-- A little tussle with Toussaint and Benjamin, who catches an elbow from Toussaint and doesn't like it. That's a foul on Toussaint. We go to the monitor to check the play, and Stevenson walks into the MSM huddle to say something. He's surrounded and called for a technical.
-- Lengthy review. A technical on Benjamin, too? The MSM coach says, ahem, something and he, too, gets a technical.Benjamin makes the free throws for the foul. Mitchell, who just checked in, goes 1-for-2 for the MSM coach technical. It's 45-33.
-- Toussaint miss, Mitchell tip dunk. Charge on MSM as Mitchell steps in to absorb the drive. It's 47-34.
-- Matthews with a bounce pass to Mitchell in transition. That's a layup. Mitchell has 10 points in eight minutes. Matthews has six assists. WVU leads 55-39, and we'll see how much more Mitchell plays.
-- Stevenson, who missedonefoul shot in 62 attempts last season, misses his first attempt this season. He makes the second. WVU is up 58-42.
-- Make that 58-45 as Leffew hits a 3.
-- Mitchell misses. Wague digs out a loose ball rebound. Stevenson finds Mitchell for a 3. That ought to do it.
-- Benjamin banks in a 3. Stevenson slips behind a Matthews screen for a 3. Leffew hits a 3. It's 64-52. WVU turns it over as Benjamin takes his steal and goes the other way. Matthews contests the layup and the ball is out on WVU. It's a 12-point game as we hit the final media timeout with 2:58 to go.
-- Not an expeditious second half. Twenty-six fouls this half and afewstoppages on top of that. WVU trying to get home with a 68-54 lead.
-- Stevenson does the job with a basket -- eight points for him this half after foul trouble in the first -- and a fastbreak lob to Matthews, who has 15-7-5. MSM turns it over and Toussaint scores in transition. It's 74-55, and that's your largest lead.
-- Final: WVU 76, MSM 58. The home-standing Mountaineers made their final five shots.
