Despite a late game push towards respectability, the West Virginia Mountaineers turned in their worst performance in nearly a month, losing to St. John's 78-62 at Madison Square Garden.
The Mountaineers were plagued by ice cold shooting all night long, finishing a disappointing 34% from the field on 23 for 65 shooting. The 'Eers turned the ball over 13 times and were outrebounded by a 37-32 margin. Kevin Jones, despite struggling early, still finished with a double double, tallying 26 points on 10 for 21 shooting, and hauling in 12 boards and swatting 3 shots. Jones may be in the middle of the greatest Mountaineer season of my lifetime, but it was still not enough tonight.
The 'Eers couldn't handle St. John's 1-2-2 zone, struggling to hit open shots from the outside and having no answers inside when the zone collapsed. In general, the Mountaineers looked as inexperienced and overwhelmed as they actually are.
The Mountaineers must bounce back from their atrocious performance tonight against Syracuse on Saturday. It's important to pick up one of the two games on this road trip, but the sledding just got a lot tougher.