Mountaineers Cruise By Panthers

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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Alex Ruoff scored 22 points on 8 of 9 shooting to lead West Virginia to a 106-41 victory over Prairie View A&M in the second game of the Legends Classic played at the WVU Coliseum on Sunday afternoon.

West Virginia (2-0), built a 54-18 halftime lead against the Panthers, now 1-3 after games against Oklahoma State, Schreiner and Tennessee. Prairie View A&M actually made a game of it against the Volunteers, falling 89-75 in Knoxville on Friday night.

West Virginia faces No. 7-rated Tennessee at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J., in the second game Friday night. New Mexico State and Texas play the first game. Both games will be televised nationally on Versus.

In addition to Ruoff’s 22 points on Sunday against Prairie View, Jamie Smalligan and Darris Nichols each contributed 13 points. West Virginia shot 54.7 percent from the floor and had a 43-35 advantage on the glass.

“We should have rebounded better than we did,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We didn’t start the second half very well. We started out well early and made rotations and then stopped again.”

Prairie View A&M (1-3) shot just 21.4 percent and committed 34 turnovers for the game.

Huggins emptied his bench with more than seven minutes remaining in the game and 11 players wound up scoring for West Virginia.

“We need to use the corners more,” Huggins said. “We turned the ball over too many times. We need to play in single-digit turnovers.”

The Mountaineers committed 19 turnovers against the Panthers. Huggins said his team will have to work on that this week in preparation for the Volunteers on Friday night.

“Tennessee concerns me because they have everyone back,” he said. “We will find out our weaknesses. Teams like that exploit weaknesses.

“It’s a great opportunity to play teams in the Top 25,” Huggins said. “We can get on Sports Center and our guys like that, and we like it from a recruiting standpoint.”

An announced crowd of 5,933 viewed the game.