MORGANTOWN — Given the opportunity to open up some eyes nationally, the WVU men’s basketball team instead put itself behind the eight ball early and never fully recovered.
Purdue’s 7-foot-4 center Zach Edey played like a giant and finished with 24 points and 12 rebounds in just 27 minutes of action Thursday, and the No. 24 Boilermakers also showed a 3-point shooting touch they hadn’t shown previously in handing the Mountaineers their first loss of the season, 80-68, inside Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Portland, Ore.
The stats will tell you Purdue (4-0) won its first-round matchup in the Phil Knight Legacy tournament behind the play of Edey and by also going 8 of 17 (47.1%) from behind the arc, when the Boilermakers were shooting just under 29% as a team from 3-point range coming in.
WVU (4-1) did little to help itself, though, falling behind 9-0 in the opening minutes, while also dealing with severe foul trouble from key players throughout the game. On top of that, senior forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. was dealing with a stomach bug and had spent most of the day prior to the game getting hydrated through an IV and did not factor in offensively over his 34 minutes.
“The biggest thing is we’re a little disappointed in our competitiveness,” WVU assistant Ron Everhart said during the postgame radio broadcast. “Obviously we didn’t shoot the ball well. I don’t think we rebounded it as well as we had been, but our bigger disappointment lies in our competitiveness, getting beat to loose balls and not being to get offensive rebounds.”
Purdue forward Mason Gillis added 14 points and five rebounds. He entered the game having scored a total of seven points.
“He surprised us a little bit,” Everhart admitted.
In return, the Mountaineers, who have now lost 10 straight against AP Top 25 teams, could do little to surprise the Boilermakers.
Foul trouble, sickness and and a bad cramp for WVU guard Erik Stevenson was the culprit for the Mountaineers not having many answers.
Forwards Jimmy Bell Jr. and Mohammed Wague — the two who were charged with guarding Edey for most of the night — both picked up two fouls in the first half, as did starting point guard Kedrian Johnson. They sat and watched most of the first half from the bench, and Bell ended up fouling out in the second half.
In the second half, forward Tre Mitchell picked up three fouls in the span of a minute and he went to the bench with four fouls with 16:20 remaining and never returned to the floor.
Stevenson, who finished with 17 points on 6 of 16 shooting, cramped up with 13:13 left in the game and sat out for the next nine minutes.
Even with all of that, WVU continued to fight. Trailing by as many as 14 points with 12:42 left to go, the Mountaineers got to within 66-62 after Johnson nailed a 3-pointer in transition with 5:30 left, but Purdue scored the next eight points to seal the game.
“We shot ourselves in the foot too much,” Everhart said. “In essence, we didn’t get a chance to play with our full roster, because of our foul problems. Edey presented that kind of a problem, but we knew that going in. He played well. He made some shots he hadn’t been making in terms of his jump hooks further away from the basket.”
As part of his 24 points, Edey finished 10 of 12 from the foul line, which is where Purdue did a lot of damage. The Boilermakers finished 24 of 28 there, while the Mountaineers were just 11 of 17.
Purdue also finished with a 35-31 advantage on the glass, blocked three shots and held WVU to a season-low 41.3% (26 of 63) shooting from the floor and 22.7% (5 of 22) from 3-point range. Purdue held a lead for 39 minutes, 37 seconds.
Joe Toussaint had a solid game for the Mountaineers with 16 points, five rebounds and four assists off the bench, while Johnson added 11 points and three assists.
But, WVU’s five forwards it played combined for just 15 points on 7 of 18 shooting, which is just barely more than what Purdue got in the first half alone from Edey.
“It was one of those days,” Everhart said. “We didn’t shoot it well. We didn’t rebound it very good. Personally, I still think we have a good basketball team, we just have to compete a little harder.”
Now in the consolation bracket, WVU will play Portland State at 9 p.m. Friday with a chance to finish no higher than fifth in the eight-team tournament. Portland State fell to No. 6 Gonzaga early Friday morning.
WVU vs. PORTLAND STATE
WHEN: 9 p.m. Friday
WHERE: Moda Center, Portland, Ore.
TV: ESPNews (Comcast 132, HD 852; DirecTV 207; DISH 142)
RADIO: 100.9 JACK-FM
WEB: dominionpost.com
TWEET @bigjax3211
