WVU beats Glenville State in last exhibition before season

Exhibition games don’t make a blemish in the win or loss columns.

But after a troubling defeat to a Division II foe to begin the 2011 season, the West Virginia men’s basketball team wanted to begin the 2012 campaign a little differently.

And after 19 points from senior forward Deniz Kilicli, the Mountaineers defeated Glenville State 95-53 Tuesday night in front of 5,208 fans at the Coliseum in an exhibition affair.

Kilicli led four players in double in figures, and West Virginia held the visiting Pioneers to just 32 percent shooting from the floor.

"It looked better than last year. Last year’s loss was to the same kind of team. People are learning. That’s good to see," Kilicli said. "I think we passed the ball better than last year, too."

Most of the passing was coming from West Virginia sophomore point guard Juwan Staten.

Staten, who sat out last season after transferring from Dayton, recorded 16 points, six assists and no turnovers in 25 minutes.

"There were some things we could have done better, but for the most part we played well," Staten said. "We always need to tighten up our defense. We gave them too many easy baskets."

The Mountaineers held a 48-22 advantage at the half and forced 26 Glenville State turnovers.

However, head coach Bob Huggins wasn’t too pleased with his team’s effort.

"I just didn’t think we competed. I thought we did at first," Huggins said. "Some guys are just happy being here and putting a uniform on."

West Virginia shot just 1-for-14 from three-point range on the night and had only 14 assists on 37 made field goals.

"Seemingly everyone grabs it (the ball) and thinks they can make a play with it, but we’ll fix that," Huggins said. "Our shot preparation was just awful … You should be ready to shoot it all the time."

All 15 Mountaineers on the roster saw action Tuesday night. Dnipropetrovsk, Ukraine native Volodymyr Gerun, who will have to sit out the first six games of the season because of an NCAA violation,
scored 12 points off the bench.

La Salle transfer and junior center Aaric Murray posted 13 points and nine rebounds in the just 16 minutes.

Both guys are listed at 6-foot-10 and will provide West Virginia with a lot of depth this season.

The ability to go deep into the bench could give the Mountaineers an advantage over its opponents.

"It makes us very dangerous because we can get up and play the way coach Huggins wants us to play," Staten said. "We can take away a lot of what the (other) offense is trying to do, and we can play faster because we know we have someone to come in for us if we get tired."

West Virginia will open the regular season with a road game at No. 21 Gonzaga Nov. 12.