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Just as it had in four of its last six games, the West Virginia men’s basketball team buried itself in a double-digit deficit in the first half of Monday’s game against No. 5 Villanova.
The Mountaineers couldn’t shoot their way out of this one.
No. 4 WVU shot 41 percent from the field, 25.9 percent from 3-point range and 56.3 percent from the free-throw line to fall to the Wildcats 82-75 in a battle of top 10 teams at the WVU Coliseum.
"That doesn’t always work, as you saw today," said WVU forward Kevin Jones on the team’s streak of second-half comebacks. "They brought the fight to us, and we didn’t know how to handle it."
The loss puts the Mountaineers two games back of first place in the Big East Conference standings, while the Wildcats remain percentage points behind first-place Syracuse.
"Their reputation of coming back was a fear for us at halftime," said Villanova head coach Jay Wright. "It wouldn’t have been the end of the world if we lost to them today because they’re a good team.
"But it’s huge winning it."
While West Virginia suffered its shooting woes, Villanova showed those in attendance why the Wildcats were ranked second in the nation in scoring entering the contest. Villanova missed just three of its 22 free throws and ended the contest 29-for-51 from the field.
The Wildcats achieved the feat without a true presence from either of their top two scorers, however.
Leading scorer Scottie Reynolds scored just two points in the first half while fellow guard Corey Fisher played just seven minutes in the second half after receiving his fourth foul.
But the pair made up for each other’s absence. Fisher ended the first 20 minutes with 12 points, while Reynolds scored 19 after halftime to end with a game-high 21 points.
The senior hit all 10 of his free-throws and missed just two shots in the second half.
"He was big for them," Jones said. "He was doing everything we weren’t doing."
The Wildcats had an answer for every attempted comeback by the Mountaineers.
West Virginia cut an early Wildcat lead to 13-10 after three consecutive points by freshman Deniz Kilicli off the bench. Villanova responded, however, with a 6-0 run for an 11-point lead that it maintained until the end of the half.
After the half, WVU appeared to be on the verge of taking its first lead since 17:25 remaining in the first half after junior guard Casey Mitchell hit two 3-pointers and a lay up before sophomore Devin Ebanks scored on two consecutive possessions – including a monstrous one-handed dunk in an open court – to cut the Villanova lead to three.
"They’re good. We tried to use our length, but we didn’t do a very good job of it," said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. "They exposed it."
But following a dunk by Villanova forward Antonio Pena, West Virginia hit just three field goals in the final 5:48, two of which were Ebanks putbacks in the final minute.
WVU’s four other points came on free throws, although the team finished just 18-for-32 from the line.
Although five Mountaineers finished the game in double-figure scoring, West Virginia’s leading scorer Da’Sean Butler finished the second half 0-for-5 from the field with just one point.
Truck Bryant led the team with 15 points while Butler and Ebanks each finished with 13 points.
Mitchell’s 12-point performance marked his first double-figure scoring game since Nov. 26 against Long Beach State.
"I felt that if we got this game, that would’ve set us up very well to win the league," Butler said. "But we have more work to do now two games back."
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