With most Mountaineers fans’ eyes on the football team in the Orange Bowl against Clemson, the West Virginia men’s basketball team rode a dominant first half to knock off Rutgers, 85-64.
The Mountaineers took a 25-point lead into halftime as Truck Bryant and Kevin Jones proved to be too much for the Scarlet Knights. Rutgers then scored 10 straight points to open the second half, bu the Mountaineers still managed to hold Rutgers at arm’s length.
Bryant scored 29 points, shooting 4-for-5 from behind the arc and 11-for-13 from the line. Deniz Kilicli, Kevin Jones, Jabarie Hinds and Aaron Brown also scored in double digits for the Mountaineers. Eli Carter led Rutgers with 19 points.
West Virginia hosts No. 9 Georgetown on Saturday, then travels to face No. 8 UConn before facing off against Rutgers again next week.
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