West Virginia shocked No. 8 Purdue on Saturday, beating the Boilermakers 68-64 in Morgantown. Kevin Jones led the Mountaineers in scoring with 17 points, but John Flowers had 15 points, Truck Bryant 12 and Joe Mazzulla 10. JaJuan Johnson had 26 points for Purdue.
The two teams went back and forth throughout the first half, but Bryant’s jumper with five seconds left allowed WVU to go to the locker room with a 29-28 lead. Purdue came back and opened up a six-point lead about six minutes into the second half but, led by Jones, the Mountaineers came storming back, and Jones hit a three-pointer with six-and-a-half minutes left to give West Virginia a 52-50 lead. Flowers’ three two minutes later put the Mountaineers up six. Purdue closed the lead to two with two minutes left, but Mazzulla cut to the basket and sank a layup with 55 seconds remaining to give the Mountaineers a four-point lead.
With this win and their win over Georgetown last week, WVU looks reasonably likely to enter the AP college basketball rankings this week. The Mountaineers face Marshall and South Florida before facing No. 18 Louisville on the road. Purdue, meanwhile, is suddenly reeling after losing to WVU and Minnesota. The Boilermakers will face Penn State on Wednesday.