Junior forward Joe Alexander had a monster day, scoring a career-high 32 points and grabbing 10 rebounds while carrying the Mountaineers on his back for much of the afternoon as UConn built an advantage as large as 17 points in the second half.
With many of his teammates struggling, Alexander continued to keep the Mountaineers in contention, finishing 14-24 from the field despite playing against the bigger, more physical front line of Connecticut.
NET BURNERS
Freshman forward John Flowers gave the Mountaineers an excellent spark off the bench, and was a key cog in West Virginia's second half comeback which was nearly enough to topple the Huskies. Flowers had his most productive outing in weeks, finishing with nine points on four-of-five shooting, while also grabbing three rebounds in 16 minutes of play.
Even with the early struggles from the field, the Mountaineers did an excellent job of not hurrying the pace against a UConn team looking to go up and down the court. Doing so would have likely resulted in an even bigger hole for WVU. The Mountaineers committed just five turnovers on the afternoon against UConn's defense.
With the loss, West Virginia remains winless at Connecticut. The Mountaineers are now 0-7 all-time against the Huskies in their home state, including an 0-2 mark at the XL Center in Hartford.