West Virginia guard JJ Kunary (left) had 19 points, five rebounds and four assists as the No. 13 Mountaineers defeated Lafayette 97-28 inside the Coliseum on Friday. (Photo by Ron Rittenhouse/The Dominion Post)
MORGANTOWN — West Virginia played strong defensively Friday, creating some interesting numbers games along the way.
For example, the 13th-ranked Mountaineers had more than twice as many assists as Lafayette’s baskets.
Or maybe the Leopards had more turnovers than points.
The list seemed nearly endless as WVU’s defense and balanced scoring attack led to an easy 98-28 victory inside the Coliseum.
“I don’t know if our defense is an extra player or not. It might look that way to our opponents sometimes.” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said. “If you’re not careful, you might get into a bit of trouble.”
The Leopards (1-4) were dominated from the start. WVU made five 3-pointers in the first quarter and led 45-15 at halftime.
At that point, it was time to start looking at the school record books, and the numbers game began.
WVU’s 25 assists were the second-most under Coach Kellogg and more than doubled Lafayette’s 12 baskets.
The Leppards’ 28 points were tied for seventh-fewest points in the program’s 51-season history, and Lafayette finished with 30 turnovers.
It was the fewest points allowed by Kellogg’s WVU and the first time since Nov. 20, 2011, that an opponent was held to fewer than 30 points.
“These types of games are always fun, especially when you can get everyone involved.” said WVU forward Kylie Blacksten, who had 13 points and six rebounds.
The only player not involved was WVU starting guard Sidney Shaw, who was suspended for one game earlier this week for punching a Bowling Green player.
“That was Coach Kellogg’s decision.” Kellogg said. “That was one game and we’ll move on from there.”
The Mountaineers (6-0) once again had a strong showing, shooting a season-high 56.9% from the floor (33 of 58) and making 14 3-pointers, which was a It was the most in a single game since he hit 17 in the WVU-WVU game. Oklahoma State in 2017.
“For the most part, we shot it well.” Kellogg said. “Obviously we made a ton of threes. I’m really happy to see our assist numbers go up like that. I thought we played hard and were pretty connected to the game.”
For the Mountaineers, JJ Kunally scored 19 points and hit four 3-pointers, missing the entire fourth quarter.
Freshman forward Jordan Thomas started in Shaw’s place and had 11 points, five assists and four rebounds.
Sidney Woodley came off the bench and had his best game of the season. The Long Beach State transfer had 15 points and five steals.
“We always sit there waiting for Sydney.” Blacksten said. “She’s been phenomenal and we were waiting for her to take it and she did. She was phenomenal on both sides of the floor.”
The Mountaineers also had 21 steals, becoming the sixth time in program history to have at least 20 steals and 25 assists in the same game.
WVU will travel to Estero, Florida next week for its first trip of the season to play in the Gulf Coast Showcase. The tournament could ultimately lead the Mountaineers to a showdown with No. 4 Texas.
“Now it’s time to go play some shows on the road and see what we’re made of.” Kellogg said.
