In the loss, junior forward Da'Sean Butler had one of the finest games of his career. Butler always seems to play well when he plays close to his hometown of Newark, N.J. and that trend continued during Tuesday night's Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden.
Butler finished with 24 points and 13 rebounds, both career highs, in West Virginia's second loss of the season. Eight was the key number for Butler, as in the number of offensive rebounds he had as well as his attempts/makes from the free throw line.
NET BURNERS
Butler's eight offensive rebounds were indicative of his team's success on the glass all night. West Virginia grabbed 25 offensive boards on the night, nearly as many as Davidson's 29 total rebounds.
The Mountaineers outrebounded the Wildcats by a hefty 52-29 advantage in all.
Freshman forward Devin Ebanks had his second consecutive double-double, finishing with 13 points and 17 rebounds. Ebanks also had 17 rebounds in Saturday's win over Cleveland State.
The Long Island City, N.Y. native fueled the beginning of West Virginia's second-half comeback, scoring seven straight points during one stretch for West Virginia to cut Davidson's lead down to six points.
Starting point guard Joe Mazzulla tried to play with his injured left shoulder, but left the game for good around the ten minute mark of the first half. His fellow backcourt starter, senior Alex Ruoff, did not play at all after injuring his shoulder in practice leading up to the game.
That, coupled with first-half foul trouble for fill-in starter John Flowers, pushed scrappy reserve Cam Thoroughman into his most extensive action of the season. Thoroughman did not disappoint, grabbing a career-high nine rebounds in the loss and also scoring two points. Thoroughman also had a clean steal from Davidson star Stephen Curry in the second half.