The majority of the eyes during UConn’s run to the National Championship last year were on Kemba Walker, and for good reason. A forgotten commodity was Jeremy Lamb, the leader of the Huskies this year. Lamb once again stepped up his play to overcome a 10-point deficit midway through the second half against the Mountaineers as the No. 16 Huskies were able to hold on to a 64-57 win.
Lamb ended up with 25 points in the game, including 13 over the final 11 minutes of the game. Freshman Andre Drummond also added 20 points for the Huskies in the victory.
“It’s frustrating because I really thought we could come in here and win tonight,” said West Virginia Coach Bob Huggins. “We just break down.”
West Virginia led 46-36 before the Huskies came back and outscored the Mountaineers 28-11 in the final stretch of the game.
“We’re up eight and we quit running offense,” said Huggins. “When they made the run we didn’t answer. We had curls open and we just wouldn’t pass the ball. This team just doesn’t pass the ball and this is going to continue to happen until they start passing the basketball.”
Leading the way for the Mountaineers was Kevin Jones again with his 22 points on 9-of-18 shooting. The only other Mountaineer to score in double digits was Deniz Kilicli with 12 points. Recent spark to the lineup, Darryl “Truck” Bryant struggled against the Huskies shooting just 2-of-13 for 8 points. As a team, the Mountaineers shot a putrid 32.3 percent from the floor compared to the Huskies shooting 55.3 percent.
The victory for UConn snaps their two-game losing streak and pushes their record to 12-4 (3-2). The Mountaineers’ record slips to 12-5 (3-2) as they prepare for their next game against Rutgers, Saturday at the WVU Coliseum.
Photo Credits: All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Discussion about this post