West Virginia 78, No. 17 Connecticut 68: Juwan Staten scored 21 points to lead the Mountaineers to a win over the Huskies in the championship game of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
Jonathan Holton added 12 points, five rebounds and three steals for West Virginia (5-0), while Daxter Miles Jr. chipped in 10 points. Devin Williams had seven points and seven rebounds for the Mountaineers, while Elijah Macon had six points and seven boards.
Ryan Boatright paced Connecticut (3-1) with 17 points and four assists, while Daniel Hamilton had 15 points and nine boards but turned the ball over eight times. Kentan Facey chipped in 10 points and eight rebounds as the Huskies won the board battle 40-35.
West Virginia jumped on top from the start, although Connecticut was down two with 9:01 to play in the first half after a Boatright jumper. The Mountaineers turned it on, going on a 17-4 run over the next 3:29 to open up a 15-point advantage and led 47-32 at intermission.
The Huskies came out with some fire in the second half, scoring six points in less than a minute to cut the deficit to 10, then holding West Virginia scoreless for a five-minute stretch, but the lead never got smaller than six. The Mountaineers pushed their advantage back to 14 on Miles' 3-pointer with 4:51 to play, and the Huskies couldn't get closer than eight the rest of the way.
GAME NOTEBOOK: The Mountaineers shot 52.8 percent from the field in the first half. … This was the first game this season West Virginia failed to force 20 or more turnovers, with the Huskies committing 19. … Prior to the game, Connecticut's Omar Calhoun, Rakim Lubin, Dan Guest and Marcel Lewis were suspended due to a violation of team rules.
Connecticut | West Virginia | |
Ryan Boatright 17 | Scoring | Juwan Staten 21 |
Ryan Boatright 4 | Assists | Jonathan Holton 3 |
Daniel Hamilton 9 | Rebounds | Elijah Macon 7 |
Ryan Boatright 5 | Free Throws Made | Juwan Staten 9 |
Sam Cassell Jr. 1 | Steals | Jonathan Holton 3 |
Amida Brimah 2 | Blocks | Elijah Macon 2 |
Team | Points | FG% | 3PM-3PA | FTM-FTA | Assists | Rebounds | Blocks | Steals | Turnovers |
Connecticut | 68 | 45.2 | 3-17 | 9-18 | 9 | 37 | 5 | 2 | 19 |
West Virginia | 78 | 45.9 | 6-17 | 16-23 | 14 | 29 | 5 | 11 | 12 |