In his own words, Emmitt Matthews Jr. is a sort of reluctant scorer.
It’s a sense of unselfishness the 6-foot-7 forward plays with, in that he would rather find other ways to contribute other than just scoring the ball.
“We won,” Matthews said after WVU held off No. 11 Iowa State 76-71 on Wednesday in front of 11,573 fans inside the Coliseum. “I came back here to win games. I didn’t come back here to average 20 points and score a bunch of buckets. I came back here to try and do something special with this team.”
Reluctance turned into opportunity for Matthews against the Cyclones (16-7, 7-4 Big 12), as he finished with 20 points on 7 of 10 shooting, while adding five rebounds.
It was a season high for Matthews, who last had a 20-point game at WVU when he was a freshman in 2019, when he scored 28 against Texas Tech in the Big 12 tournament.
He played at Washington last season, before transferring back to WVU for his final season.
“I just saw space,” he said. “We’ve got great shooters. The ability to stretch the floor with our team is going to create spacing. You can’t not guard Erik (Stevenson). You can’t not guard Kedy (Johnson). You can’t not guard Joe (Toussaint).
“When you have to guard those guys and forget about me, I’m going to go to the basket and score. I really think that’s all it is.”
Stevenson’s hot streak comes to an end
Erik Stevenson’s hot shooting streak came to an end Wednesday night, but it had nothing to do with his form.
Instead, Stevenson took a hard fall to the Coliseum floor while trying to draw a charge against Cyclones guard Gabe Kalscheur with 2:17 remaining in the first half.
Stevenson hit the ground on his back and Kalscheur’s momentum carried him past Stevenson’s head, with his right leg appearing to brush against Stevenson’s head.
“I didn’t like the play that happened,” Matthews said. “He got kicked in the head. I saw it. I felt like something should have been looked at. The whistle was blown and a guy is down and got kicked in the head. I find that a little bit dirty.”
Stevenson, who was coming off a career-high 34 points against Oklahoma last Saturday, was helped to the locker room by teammates and trainers.
He was able to return to the bench before halftime and then came out of the locker room and warmed up and started the second half.
But, his evening was just as frustrating in the second half. He picked up his fifth foul with 2:20 remaining on an offensive foul that appeared to be a controversial call at the very least.
He finished with eight points.
News and notes
WVU became the eighth Big 12 school this season to be held below its season scoring average by Iowa State. WVU entered the game averaging 77.6 points per game. Only Texas Tech (in overtime) has exceeded its scoring average against the Cyclones.
Iowa State became the seventh AP Top 25 team the Mountaineers have played this season, and WVU has five remaining games against ranked opponents.
The school record for most top 25 opponents in a regular season is 11, set by the 2020-21 and 2014-15 teams.
WVU is 3-4 against top 25-ranked schools this season.
The Mountaineers are 11-3 at home. Iowa State is 2-6 on the road.
Iowa State fell to 2-9 all-time playing at the Coliseum and haven’t won in Morgantown since 2015.
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