Senior point guard Darris Nichols earned Player of the Game honors by default. Nichols led the Mountaineers with 17 points, and was the only West Virginia player in double-figures.
The Radford, Va. native was 3-9 from the field, but bounced back from a poor effort at the foul line in Saturday's loss to Georgetown with a perfect 10-10 night from the charity stripe on Wednesday.
Nichols played all 40 minutes for West Virginia.
NET BURNERS
West Virginia's field goal shooting was nothing short of abysmal against the Bearcats. The Mountaineers were just 10-50 overall from the field, including aa jawdropping 1-22 from beyond the three-point arc. The Mountaineers made just four shots in the second half, and barely missed setting a new Coliseum record for fewest points by a Mountaineer team, courtesy of Jonnie West's jumper in the final two minutes.
The WVU offense lacked continuity and structure for much of the night, starting the game just two of 18 from the floor. One could argue that the offensive production for the Mountaineers was similar to the now-defunct presidential campaigns of Rudy Giuliani and John Edwards. That's to say that everyone was standing around waiting for them to make a move, only to look up and see them down by 20 points.
Mick Cronin's Bearcats were better than the Mountaineers in every phase of the game, including physicality. The Cats outrebounded West Virginia by a hefty 47-26 margin, and scored 17 second chance points to just eight for WVU.
Perhaps the fashion police will be out in full force after this one. Huggins wore a sharp-looking gold suit on the sideline against the team he coached for 16 seasons while the Mountaineers donned white uniforms for the first time all year. Don't be shocked if neither of those items is seen for the rest of the season after the Mountaineers put up just 39 points in the year's most lopsided defeat.