Mountaineers get 600th win for Huggins in rout of Golden Griffins
Bob Huggins became the sixth active head coach in Division I and the 29th head coach to reach the 600 win milestone, as West Virginia throttled Canisius 77-54 Saturday afternoon.
Joe Alexander had a game-high 20 points and Alex Ruoff added 14 points to propel the Mountaineers (10-1) to their eight straight victory and second straight 10-1 season. The loss drops Canisius to 1-10 on the season. The Golden Griffins are off to their worst start since the 1987-88 season where they started off 1-11.
The Golden Griffins started all underclassmen (three freshman and two sophomores) and essentially lost this game in the first half. West Virginia went on a 19-5 run to end the first half and went into the break with a 33-17 lead.
Canisius has had their share of offensive troubles in the 07-08 season. A young and inexperienced team, the Golden Griffins have been held to 60 points or less seven times in their first 11 games this year. Their offense continued to struggle on this day, ending the first half on a dreadful 1-for-13 shooting from the field and coughing up the ball 4 times in the final six minutes of first half action.
All ten victories for West Virginia this season have come by at least 14 points and they entered Saturday’s game with the nation’s best scoring margin, outscoring their opponents by a whopping 29.4 points per game.
Keep in mind the Mountaineers have yet to enter conference play in the Big East, and they’ll encounter difficult road tests in 2008, traveling to UConn, Louisville, and Villanova. They’ll also run into Georgetown and they’ll have the unfortunate task of colliding with Pittsburgh twice. But certainly as 2007 draws to a close, West Virginia has done what good teams are supposed to do: win games you should win, and put games away early against inferior opponents.
A truly great feat for head coach Bob Huggins. Huggins amassed 399 of his 600 wins as the head coach of Cincinnati. Not many coaches can say they’ve come full circle in their coaching careers like Huggins can. Huggins played at West Virginia, started his coaching career as an assistant at West Virginia, and now has returned to his alma mater as the head coach.
Tags: Big East Basketball, Canisius Golden Griffins, NCAA Men's basketball, West Virginia Mountaineers