WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. — West Virginia University’s basketball team appreciates its 11-0 record and No. 6 national ranking.
The Mountaineers know, however, they can play better heading into today’s 2:30 p.m. game here against 12-0, fourth-ranked Purdue. The game will be nationally televised by ESPN.
WVU has been taken to the wire in three of its last four games — at Cleveland State and Seton Hall and Tuesday at home against Marquette, when Da’Sean Butler’s long jumper with two seconds left produced a 63-62 victory.
“It feels good (to be undefeated),” Butler said. “Granted, we didn’t do things we were supposed to do, and I didn’t really feel too good about that. The shot was awesome that we won that way and won in general, but I wanted to win a little bit differently.”
“Luckily they missed free throws back to back, crucial free throws” said WVU sophomore Devin Ebanks. “We got the rebounds and converted.”
Also on Tuesday, Purdue got its first glimpse into how tough the road will be in the Big Ten. E’Twaun Moore scored 21 points, 15 in the second half, and the fourth-ranked Boilermakers overcame a sluggish start to beat Iowa 67-56 for its best start in 16 seasons.
Robbie Hummel added 16 points and eight rebounds for the Boilermakers (12-0, 1-0 Big Ten), who have opened with 12 straight wins for the second time. Glenn “Big Dog” Robinson led Purdue to a school-record 14-0 start in 1993-94.
It wasn’t the blowout many expected the Big Ten’s only unbeaten team to administer to last-place Iowa, though.
Purdue trailed by one point at halftime and led 40-36 midway through the second half. But Moore keyed a 13-2 run with three straight baskets, helping the Boilermakers push their lead to 53-38 with 8:41 left.
Purdue shot a blistering 65.2 percent in the second half, and it needed just about every one of those baskets to put away the Hawkeyes (5-8, 0-1).
“Our league, it’s stacked, and we talked to our guys about how every single night, it’s going to be tough,” Purdue coach Matt Painter said. “Our league is very good. Any time you can win on the road in the Big Ten, it’s an accomplishment.”
Purdue appeared to be looking ahead to its date with the Mountaineers in the early going, falling behind 15-6. Sparkplug Chris Kramer’s steal and dunk keyed a Purdue run that tied the game at 20, and Moore’s floater gave the Boilermakers their first lead, 24-22, with 1:58 left in the first half.
“It’s always tough to play in an environment like this,” Hummel said. “We were lucky to just play well enough to win.”
Purdue’s defense was simply too much for Iowa’s thin backcourt, which committed 12 of the Hawkeyes’ 16 turnovers.
“I thought our guys did a good job of staying with the basketball, pressuring the basketball and then really taking advantage of their lack of depth at the point guard position,” Painter said.
WVU has been limited in the backcourt by injuries to Truck Bryant and Casey Mitchell and Joe Mazzulla’s continuing battle with shoulder problems.
Mazzulla played a season-high 17 minutes against Marquette. The redshirt junior made his trademark hustle plays, defended well and chipped in with a key basket to make it a 59-57 deficit with 2:43 remaining.
“We put Joe in there and he gave us great minutes and great hustle plays,” Huggins said. “We’re going to have to keep playing him more minutes. He made the one bad decision trying to throw it through three guys in transition, but he put pressure on the basketball and didn’t get beat to the basket.”
Huggins has been starting an all-forward lineup of Butler, Ebanks, Kevin Jones, Wellington Smith and John Flowers.
“Our best basketball is still ahead of us,” Jones said. “We just have to work on a lot of stuff.”
