MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — For the second straight game, it took a freshman to step up and lead West Virginia’s charge. This time it led to the Cancun Challenge championship.
On his 20th birthday, WVU freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe set a Cancun Challenge record with 18 rebounds — former Kentucky standouts DeMarcus Cousins and Patrick Patterson were tied at 17 each — and he also added 19 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 75-63 victory over Wichita State at the Hard Rock Riviera Maya Hotel.
“Oscar did a good job of staying out of foul trouble, which was key for him,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said on his postgame radio interview. “He pursues that ball now.”
Tshiebwe did just that, securing his third double-double of the season along the way. West Virginia (6-0) is off to its best start since going 7-0 in 2015-16 and the Cancun Challenge title is the fifth in-season tournament championship WVU has won under Huggins, joining the 2009 76 Classic, 2014 Puerto Rico Tip-Off, 2015 Las Vegas Invitational and the 2017 AdvoCare Invitational.
Huggins said this championship and the way the Mountaineers are playing defense just may be signs that WVU has completely moved on from last season’s 15-21 record.
“I really wanted this for our returners,” Huggins said. “They believed in us and they endured and they love West Virginia. They love the Mountaineers and love being a part of it. They deserve to have some good things happen for them.”
Tshiebwe’s performance came on the heels of Miles McBride’s performance on Tuesday against Northern Iowa. The Mountaineers erased a 15-point, second-half deficit in that one to pull out a 60-55 win. McBride, a freshman from Cincinnati, had 18 points in that game.
There was no need to come from behind against the Shockers (6-1), as the Mountaineers led for all but 15 seconds of the game. They used a quick offensive spurt in the second half to take a 48-36 lead with 13:15 remaining and then WVU simply let its defense and rebounding take over.
Wichita State, which entered the game scoring 75 points per game, was held to just 30.6% percent shooting (19 of 62) from the field and just 6 of 25 from 3-point range.
WVU’s defense is unlike that of past teams. This is not ‘Press’ Virginia or even a version of the 2010 Final Four team, which played physical man-to-man, as well as a 1-3-1 zone defense.
“We’re working on a zone right now that is different,” Huggins said. “I don’t want to go out there and stand in a 2-3 zone and wave at people. We’ve got something that we ran years ago at Cincinnati when I first got there. I think our bigs are mobile enough to do it and we’re going to continue to work on that.”
West Virginia’s bigs were active against Wichita State. When not in foul trouble, Derek Culver added seven points and nine rebounds, as the Mountaineers held a commanding 48-31 edge on the glass.
Emmitt Matthews Jr., who landed on the back of his head late in the game against Northern Iowa but was back in the starting lineup against the Shockers, added 13 points. He hit two 3-pointers in the first five minutes of the second half to help WVU extend a slim 31-28 halftime edge up to a 12-point advantage.
WVU returns home to host Rhode Island at 2 p.m. Sunday.
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