Miles leads No. 24 WVU in rout of Morgan State 111-48 (Nov 18, 2017)
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) West Virginia coach Bob Huggins was wondering whether his team would regain its energy before the tough part of the schedule.
That problem was solved Saturday night as Daxter Miles scored a career-high 32 points to lead the 24th-ranked Mountaineers over Morgan State 111-48.
''I thought we had good energy today,'' Huggins said. ''I didn't think we had much energy in the first game and I didn't think we had much energy in practice. We were much, much better yesterday in practice. I thought we had a good energy.''
The Mountaineers (2-1) had control from the start, opening the game with a 14-3 run, rebounding from a sloppy start against American on Wednesday.
WVU finished the game shooting 45 of 77 (58 percent) from the field.
Jevon Carter added 16 points for West Virginia while Beetle Bolden had 13 points and freshman Teddy Allen added 10.
Carter and Miles have combined for 42 percent of the Mountaineers' scoring production at home this season.
''It means he's focused,'' Carter said of Miles. ''It's our last year. It's all or nothing. He's proving that he's willing to give it all he's got.
''We feed off each other. We just make sure we come and play and if we come and play then everything else should fall in line.''
Allen has scored in double figures in all three of his Mountaineer games.
Wesley Harris led all players with seven rebounds for West Virginia.
Sagaba Konate, who did not play in the Mountaineers' win over American on Wednesday, returned to play and finished with eight points and five rebounds.
''Sags did what we thought he would do,'' Huggins said. ''We have to get him better.''
Lapri McCray-Pace and Martez Cameron led Morgan State (2-2) with 10 points each. McCray-Pace, Cameron and Alec Ennis had five rebounds each.
The Bears shot 18 of 56 (32 percent) from the field.
''I came down here trying to focus on us,'' Morgan State coach Todd Bozeman said. ''I mean it's our fourth game of the season. So I came in here trying to focus on us.''
BIG PICTURE
The Bears play eight of their next nine games away from their home court in Baltimore. Major games include George Washington and George Mason.
West Virginia, in the midst of a three-game mid-major stretch in Morgantown, will look to regain some national respect next week as they head to the Advocare Invitational on Thanksgiving.
PRESS VIRGINIA
The full court press returned to Morgantown in its classic form as the Mountaineers scored 37 points off of 36 turnovers.
TROUBLE WITH THE CARR
Morgan State's leading scorer Phillip Carr shot 2 for 13 from the field and caused four turnovers.
''It's hard for us to be in games if Phil Carr doesn't score,'' Bozeman said.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
Since the Mountaineers have only played American and Morgan State since the rankings came out Monday, any rise in the polls would only come due to No. 20 Northwestern's 92-88 loss to Creighton on Thursday.
UP NEXT
Morgan State hosts Division II Goldey-Beacom College on Tuesday.
West Virginia closes out their home stand with Long Beach State on Monday.
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