Marquette University
West Virginia
No. 10 Marquette Upset in Morgantown
1/6/2008 12:00:00 AM | Men's Basketball
Jan. 6, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) -- Alex Rouff hit five 3-pointers and scored 19 points to lead the Mountaineers to a 79-64 win over No. 10 Marquette, giving Huggins his 601st career victory in his first season since returning to his alma mater.
Joe Alexander added 19 points, Da'Sean Butler had 13 and Darris Nichols 12 for West Virginia, which cruised to a 10-1 start before dropping a pair of games to Oklahoma and at Notre Dame. The losses seemed to give credence to Huggins' claim that the hot start was merely "fool's gold."
Nothing looked foolish about West Virginia's 13 straight home win, and sixth straight in Big East openers.
The Mountaineers, employing a seldom-used 1-3-1 zone defense most of the game, surprised Marquette and coach Tom Crean, who appeared to be expecting Huggins' trademark, physical man-to-man defense.
Lazar Hayward and Wesley Matthews scored 13 each to lead Marquette (11-2, 1-1), which had won seven straight since a four-point loss to No. 9 Duke in late November. But the Golden Eagles' sensation backcourt of Jerel McNeal and Dominic James was held to a combined 20 points on just 8-of-20 shooting, and 2-of-8 from beyond the arc.
