WEST VIRGINIA DOESN'T LIKE TASTE OF CURRY

By Ray Floriani



NEW YORK CITY – A final look back at the Jimmy V Classic.

Score:

Davidson 68
West Virginia 65



West Virginia battled competitively on a night when they did not play their best game. In the end the major difference was Davidson’s Stephen Curry. The Davidson star, or should we superstar, is a rare talent. He had an off shooting night of 9 for 27 from the field. In the stretch with the game on the balance Curry stepped up. In front of over 14,000 with five minutes left the Davidson junior hit four major shots. And they weren’t exactly wide open looks. He simply put his signature on the contest and willed his team to victory when they needed it most. Curry finished with a game high 27 points and 10 assists.

Mountaineers defended Curry as well as possible. Coach Bob Huggins kept rotating fresh bodies on Curry. Virtually all of the West Virginia defenders were the taller, long type. Hoping to disrupt the Wildcat marksman. It worked.

“They (West Virginia) were taller and longer defensively than what I am used to,” Curry said. “Every time we screened they switched and another tall defender was there waiting.”

Simply, he was forced to earn every shot. In the end he did what great players do.

West Virginia was without the services of injured senior guard Alex Ruoff. His loss didn’t figure as huge defensively as offensively. All night the Mountaineers seemed to struggle in finding a rhythm. A key factor that allowed them to battle back from an eleven point early second half deficit was rebounding. West Virginia owned the glass with a 58-32 margin and had a 29-12 on the offensive boards. Many of those extra chances were converted. Da ‘Sean Butler led the Mountaineers with 24 points while adding 14 boards. Huggins also received good performances from a pair of freshmen. Devin Ebanks had a game high 17 rebounds (7 offensive) and 13 points while Darryl Bryant came off the bench and scored 13.



The Tempo Free breakdown


..............................Score..........Possessions............Efficiency
Davidson........................68...............69.....................99
West Virginia...................65...............68.....................96

• Chalk it up to Stephen Curry.