In a rare Friday night Big East matchup, the West Virginia Mountaineers dropped to 7-9 in the conference with a 61-60 loss to Marquette at home. The Mountaineers struggled on the offensive end of the floor in the second half, as the Golden Eagles came from behind to eek out the 61-60 win. Marquette played without three of their best players in the first half, as Darius Johnson-Odom, Junior Cadougan, and Vander Blue were all suspended for the first twenty minutes for violating a team rule.
Darryl Bryant led the Mountaineers with 25 points but Kevin Jones struggled, missing all five attempts from behind the arc. As a team, WVU shot just 25 percent from downtown. The Mountaineers found themselves down five with just a minute to play, but the comeback attempt fell short when Bryant missed a jumper in the lane and the ball came left off the rim and into the hands of Cadougan. It was a frustrating second half for Bob Huggins, whose team continues to stumble down the stretch. They'll look to get back on track against Depaul on Tuesday night.
Stay tuned to SBNation Pittsburgh and The Smoking Musket for more on the West Virginia Mountaineers.