CINCINNATI — The implications of West Virginia’s 59-54 come-from-behind win at Cincinnati won’t fully be known until the near future.
Yet in rallying from a 14-point deficit with 16 minutes to play, the Mountaineers claimed their second victory outside Morgantown and second against the Bearcats this season, improved to 15-8 and stayed above .500 and in the top half of the Big 12 Conference standings at 6-4.
“This was the most important game because coach always says that about our next game,” said WVU guard Honor Huff, who ignited the rally with a team-high 16 points, all of which he scored after halftime. “That’s what the grand scheme was — winning tonight. Doing that gives us a little momentum to go back home and try to take care of business there. We don’t look ahead or try to look at the outside noise or what can happen if you lose or win this game. We just have to take care of every game that comes on our schedule. We were able to take care of this one and we’ll get back to it Sunday.”
Yet the Mountaineers entered the contest at Fifth Third Arena having failed to take care of business for the first time this season at Hope Coliseum in their previous matchup with Baylor last Saturday.
When WVU, a team too often plagued by slow starts throughout this season, scored on one of its first eight possessions and trailed 14-2 before the game was 5 minutes old, deja vu could certainly have been on the verge of creeping in.
Instead, that was the feeling throughout much of the second half for UC, which led by 12 before Huff ran off a dozen points over a span of 2:39, including a three-point play that had the Mountaineers to within a point at 40-39.
The Bearcats managed only 24 second-half points, including 17 over the final 16 minutes, while falling to 0-5 this season in games decided by five or fewer points.
“We got tight and played tight after we gave up that 12-0 run to Huff,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said.
Down the stretch, Mountaineer freshman DJ Thomas delivered with a pair of triples and two free throws. The first three put WVU in front to stay, 49-47.
With Huff rightfully drawing multiple defenders and receiving a bulk of the attention from the Bearcats, Thomas capitalized on two set triples at a critical stage. Jasper Floyd assisted the first and Huff the second.
“He did a great job of making the simple play,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said of Huff. “He’s been seeing a lot of attention. Putting two on the ball a lot on him. Part of his growth and maturation is trusting his teammates and trusting that the game will open up. He did a tremendous job of that. DJ made the two monster threes down the stretch.”
West Virginia’s 39-point second half was largely highlighted by making half of its 12 three-point attempts after going 0 for 9 through the first 20 minutes. Yet even while shooting a far better percentage from the field in the second half (13 for 28 as opposed to 8 for 20), the Mountaineers managed seven of their 10 offensive rebounds and 14 of their 18 second-chance points after halftime.
“The hard part is when you’re playing against good defensive teams, you can’t be shocked,” Hodge said. “It’s hard to get open looks. When you finally get one, you rush it a little bit. These guys put a lot of work in. If they’re the right shots, you just have to trust them. In the first half, we didn’t go a good enough job of rebounding our misses. There’s not a rule that just because you shoot it if you don’t make it, that you can’t go rebound it. We had a higher sense of urgency as the game went on.”
Once WVU scored at a consistent rate against a team that doesn’t often allow opponents to do exactly that, the Mountaineers picked up their defensive play as well.
The Bearcats’ seven second-half field goals on 23 attempts were one fewer than their turnover total during that time.
“For us, it’s always going to start on the defensive end and can you defend and rebound,” Hodge said. “In the last couple games, we’ve gotten some good looks offensively and we’re struggling a little bit on that end of the floor. But like I tell these guys all the time, let’s beat somebody 52-48 then if that’s what it takes. It takes what it takes.”