MORGANTOWN — For the third time this season, Marquette found a way to erase a 12-point deficit against a Power 5 Conference opponent.
It began last week in a 67-66 victory against No. 10 Illinois.
In the Charleston Classic, the Golden Eagles erased another 12-point hole in beating Ole Miss in the first round, before coming back to beat West Virginia on Friday, 82-71.
The Mountaineers (3-1) led by 12 at the half, 47-35.
“Every game we’ve had, we’ve come out and played pretty good in the first half and then came out flat as can be in the second half,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “We had to have missed 10 lay-ups in the second half. We had to have missed seven or eight paint-touch shots.”
In pulling off the comeback, Marquette shot 64% (16 of 25) from the floor and 61.5% (8 of 13) from 3-point range.
The Golden Eagles finished with a season-high 12 3-pointers against a Mountaineers team that had given up only six of them over their first two games of the season.
“They were all penetrate-and-pitch shots,” Huggins said. “Whoever touched the ball straight-lined drived us. We come out in the second half and they straight-lined us. We stood around.”
To Huggins’ point about WVU’s poor second halves, the Mountaineers have been outscored in the second half, 143-138, so far this season
Marquette outscored WVU 47-24 in the second half.
Rebound margin
For the third time in four games, WVU was out-rebounded. Marquette finished with a 37-32 advantage on the boards with freshman Olivier-Maxence Prosper finishing with nine.
In the second half, Marquette dominated on the glass, finishing with a 22-14 edge.
The Mountaineers came into the Charleston Classic ranked 344th in the country in rebounding margin, but that improved slightly after beating Elon on the boards in the first round.
Marquette’s inside work also gave the Golden Eagles a 30-24 advantage in points in the paint and Marquette also had a 15-3 lead in fast-break points.
News and notes
Marquette coach Shaka Smart is now 8-6 against the Mountaineers. Smart spent the last six seasons as Texas’ head coach before taking over the Golden Eagles this season.
Going back to the old Big East days, West Virginia has lost four straight against Marquette.
Dating back to last season, Sean McNeil has hit at least one 3-pointer in 19 consecutive games. He had two of them against Marquette and finished with 12 points.
WVU guard Kedrian Johnson came into the game tied for No. 1 in the nation in steals per game (4.33), but the senior got in early foul trouble and was limited to just 12 minutes. He did not record a steal.
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