West Virginia (16-9, 7-5) managed to get a crucial 74-67 win over UCF (17-7, 6-6) on Saturday. With the win, the Mountaineers have most likely put themselves back in the NCAA Tournament contention. Read more: Huff leads WVU to pivotal 74-67 win over UCF.
Honor Huff led the way for WVU with 21 points, with a majority of his production coming in the final minutes. Jasper Floyd also came up huge for the Mountaineers with 17 points.
First half
The game got underway in a hurry with UCF’s Riley Kugel draining a deep three after winning the tip. Floyd responded on the following possession with a crafty turnaround jumper to put WVU on the board as well.
After turnovers from both squads, Floyd added two more points off a layup. John Bol matched him with his own layup on the other end.
Both teams went cold for a short time after that, but Huff connected on a three to give WVU an early lead before the 16-minute media timeout. The Knights were able to respond after the break with back-to-back layups from Chris Johnson.
Johnson managed to convert on the and-one opportunity on the second layup, but Treysen Eaglestaff hit his first shot of the night to even the score once again.
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Trading blows
Following the second media timeout of the half, both teams caught fire and started trading buckets. Chance Moore got it started with four quick points. Carmelo Pacheco answered with a triple, but Amir Jenkins added two more points off a textbook mid-range pull-up.
The Mountaineers and Knights continued to trade blows throughout most of the half as the score was tied at 22 with 4:29 left after Jenkins hit on another mid range jumper. Right before the final media timeout of the half, Moore and Bol traded layups to put the score at 24-24.
The Knights had a quick five-run burst after three free throws from Riley Kugel and a transition layup from Johnson. That forced WVU’s head coach Ross Hodge to call a timeout with 2:21 left to go.
The timeout worked as UCF didn’t score for the remainder of the half. Floyd drilled a floater as the half ended to put WVU down one going into half.
Second half
Kugel once again got the Knights started in the half with a layup. After Huff managed to connect on a contested floater, Kugel drained a three to put UCF up four. After Floyd lost the ball, UCF’ Jordan Burks hit a layup.
That forced Coach Hodge to call an early timeout with 17:59 left. Despite the stoppage, Burks buried a three following a turnover from Huff. WVU had a quick surge after a three from Floyd and a layup from Moore.
However, the Knights went on a 6-0 run immediately after to put them up 10 right before the first media timeout.
Moore managed to connect on another layup after the timeout, but the Knights responded with another 5-0 run. Coach Hodge had to call his fourth timeout of the game after the Knights jumped to a 51-38 lead.
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The Mountaineers started to catch fire after the 12-minute media timeout with Brenen Lorient scoring four-straight points. Huff followed that with his own four points after being fouled on a made three.
WVU storms back
Cambridge knocked down a layup, but Lorient struck back with a three-point play. After Eaglestaff took advantage of a bad pass from Cambridge, Lorient made another layup to put WVU down just three right before the eight-minute intermission.
Eaglestaff hit a pair of free throws after the break to bring WVU’s deficit to one. UCF’s Themus Fulks buried a contested floater, but Floyd drained a three to even up the score for the first time in the second half.
Fulks hit another floater to give the Knights the lead and Bol added to it with a free throw. However, Huff was fouled on a three pointer and converted all three to even it up again.
After the final media timeout, Fulks hit a pair of free throws to put the Knights up three. Huff came up huge for WVU again with a layup and than draining a pair free throws to give WVU the lead with 2:37 left.
Floyd added to his big night with a three following a steal by Huff to extend WVU’s lead. Huff continued to come up clutch for WVU with another three. That gave WVU a seven-point lead with 59 seconds left in the contest.
Despite some late buckets from Johnson and Fulks, the Knights were not able to regain the lead in the closing seconds. Eaglestaff put the final nail in the coffin with two free throws to close out the game for the Mountaineers with a 74-67 victory.
Top performers
WVU: Honor Huff- led the team with 21 points. Willed the team to victory late in the game, despite facing foul trouble throughout most of the second half.
WVU: Jasper Floyd- second with 17 points to go along with five rebounds. This was arguably the seniors best night in the blue and gold as he missed just two shots all night.
UCF: Themus Fulks- finished with a team-high 19 points and seven assists.
What’s next
West Virginia returns home for its next matchup against Utah. The Mountaineers face off against the struggling Utes on Wednesday, February 18. Tip-off is set for 8:30 p.m.
Make sure to stay up to date with WVU Athletics on wvsportsnation.com. With basketball season heating up and WVU baseball off to a 2-0 start at the time of publication, you don’t want to miss any of the upcoming action.
