WVU basketball: Mountaineers bow out to Villanova

He kept tugging on each cuff with increasing frequency as his always-composed players became rattled by the West Virginia press, making each moment uncomfortable. Updates photos, links. With AP Photos.

When it was over and the dust settled, the Wildcats had stymied the attacking style of defense the Mountaineers lean on as their calling card and won 90-78. Brunson made his first free throw to cut WVU’s lead to 60-55, but missed the second. The Wildcats had zero trouble with 16-seed Radford in an 87-61 win, then proceeded to score 49 second-half points against an elite defensive team in Alabama, rolling to an 81-58 drubbing.

After all, the Wildcats frayed but did not unwind as the Mountaineers pressured and prodded and hacked their way to a six-point lead in the second half, only to watch as Villanova seemingly grew in muscle and might, closing the way a possible national champion is expected to close out games.

That Carter and Miles don’t get the respect that they believe they deserve was a point driven home when Jay Wright, the Villanova coach, took the podium.

Miles led West Virginia with 11 points in the first 20 minutes and Brunson scored 16 for Villanova. Villanova (32-4) has been even better on defense, holding its first two opponents to 37 percent shooting and less than 60 points per game.

“Our mindset is always to go out there and play for each other for 40 minutes, play as hard as we can, and stick to our core values as long as we can”, senior guard Jalen Brunson said. They lost to Texas A&M by double figures to open the year and then went on a big winning streak before coming back down to earth a bit in conference play.

The Wildcats committed 16 turnovers but compensated for it defensively, limiting the Mountaineers (26-11) to 27-of-70 shooting on the night (.386), including 7-of-28 from beyond the 3-point arc (.250). West Virginia took its biggest lead, 56-50, with 11:08 left.

Carter was called for his third with 17:33 left in the game. West Virginia’s leading scorer, Daxter Miles Jr., collected three quick fouls and went to the bench for about 10 minutes. Center Sagaba Konate, a bouncing sculpted madman at the back end of the Mountaineers’ defense, eavesdropped on a Villanova huddle early before Phil Booth shoo’d him away, then delivered a almost psyche-shattering two-handed block on a Bridges dunk attempt with just over 13 minutes left in the game.

“I just try to be myself”, Spellman said after practice earlier this week.

Villanova has the same characteristics, largely because of the leadership of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges and Phil Booth, which came through once again.

The Wildcats struggled at times, especially in the first half, but dug out of a six-point hole in the second half with an 11-0 run.

West Virginia got to within four, but the Wildcats got 3-point baskets from Spellman and Brunson in an 8-2 run that made it 76-66 with 5:37 to play.

DeVoe finished with a career-high 31 points. “For us, most importantly, nothing changes no matter who we play, where we play, what time we play”.

“I think about it all the time“.

Lamont West. Villanova is a great three point shooting team, living and dying by the three, but West Virginia likes to get to the rim and get layups. It gave the Mountaineers a 33-30 lead with five minutes remaining in the half.

Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate each at 12 points to lead West Virginia. This year, they’re playing around one.

“I haven’t thought that for ahead”, he said. They advanced to three Sweet 16s and played in three Big 12 Championships.

Texas Tech 78-73. The Red Raiders have the guard play of Culver, Smith, and Evans to get past Haas-less Purdue.

Carter 3 gives WVU its first lead.

The barrage of 3-pointers gets the attention. That, by the way, was the last time the Mountaineers knocked off a No. 1 seed in the tournament, upsetting Kentucky in the East regional finals in Syracuse, New York. Carter compared the Wildcats to Kansas because both have a stable of guards.

Since 1983, Mark Herrmann has coveredBrookhaven, Southampton and East Hampton on the news side, and high schools, the Islanders, the Mets and golf for Newsday sports.His assignments have includedthe Olympics, March Madness, the Triple Crown, Stanley Cup, Super Bowl and World Series.

“Of course we feel it”, he said. “Anything can happen in March”.