PISCATAWAY, N.J. - If the last time it took the court theinexperience was showing last night it was the potential that shonethrough.
West Virginia could muster only 48 points when it visited SetonHall.
It was the opposite at Rutgers.
Putting together their most impressive first half of the season,the Mountaineers fought back a mild Rutgers second-half rally toclaim an 85-64 win in a Big East contest played at Rutgers LouisBrown Athletic Center.
The win is the seventh in a row for West Virginia over Rutgersand improved its season mark to 11-4 and 2-1 in the conference.Rutgers falls to 8-7 and 0-2 in the Big East.
Darryl "Truck" Bryant, who was coming off a 3-for-16 shootingperformance against Seton Hall, led the way with 29 points as fiveplayers reached double figures.
Kevin Jones, who was a game-time decision with a tender ankle,notched his 10th double-double of the season with 14 points and 14rebounds.
Deniz Kilicli netted 16 and Aaron Brown and Jabarie Hinds had 11points apiece for the Mountaineers. Eli Carter led Rutgers with 19.
"It was a lot better than the other day," West Virginia Coach BobHuggins said. "The big difference was Truck was 7-for-13 tonight and3-for-16 against Seton Hall. Kevin Jones gets 14 and 14 and thoseguys have to play well for us to win. Having as many young guys aswe have it's a day-to-day thing. The freshmen haven't been asconsistent as they need to be."
It was certainly good to have Bryant back in the consistentcolumn.
"I wasn't getting any looks the other night (Seton Hall)," Bryantsaid.
"This game we came ready to play. My team needs to be consistentin scoring. If they needed something else I'd so that, but they needme to score."
The Mountaineers started the game looking very inexperienced asit had five turnovers in the first six minutes and the ScarletKnights enjoyed an early five-point lead.
Things got even at 13 and then the capability of the Mountaineerswas on full display.
It started innocently enough with a Bryant 3-pointer from theright side, and while the defense was forcing the Scarlet Knightsinto turnover after turnover, the offense was capitalizing.
Just about everyone on the floor got into the act as WestVirginia put together a very impressive 24-4 run and with 5:40 leftin the first half they had a very comfortable 37-17 advantage.
Rutgers didn't help itself by missing 11 free throws, but it wasa determined gang of Mountaineers that cruised to a 51-26 halftimelead.
After scoring just 48 the entire game against Seton Hall the 51points was the most explosive first half the season and it markedthe second time West Virginia has gone over the half century mark ina half.
The other time came in the second half against Texas A & M -Corpus Christi when they put up 52.
It was the most Rutgers allowed in a half and it largest halftimedeficit this season.
"We showed we have a glass jaw when they started making Big Eastplays," said Rutgers second-year Coach Mike Rice. "They are a well-coached team with tougher players than Rutgers."
West Virginia shot at 57.7 percent in the first 20 minutes andwas 6-for-11 from beyond the arc and had seven first half steals. Ifthere was one drawback it was the 16 fouls whistled on theMountaineers. There were a total of 30 personal fouls called in thefirst half.
The Scarlet Knights opened the second half like it was going tomake a game of it, scoring the first 10 points of the second half.
Huggins quickly called time to get things straightened out.
"We lost our aggression," said Huggins of the RU rally. "We wentto a 2-3 zone to make them shoot the ball over top of us. It allowedus to have some run outs and it's easier to run out of the zone."
Rutgers was able to cut the deficit to 58-43 with just over 10minutes left, but after a tough game at Seton Hall it was Bryantshowing the senior leadership once again pointing the Mountaineersin the right direction.
A direction filled with a lot of potential.
West Virginia 85, Rutgers 64
WEST VIRGINIA (11-4, 2-1 BIG EAST)
Player Min FG 3pt FT R A PT
Jones 39 5-9 0-1 4-4 14 0 14
Kilicli 29 5-6 0-0 6-12 2 2 16
Miles 5 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Hinds 29 2-5 1-3 6-6 3 7 11
Bryant 39 7-13 4-5 11-13 3 2 29
Rutledge 4 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Brown 24 4-5 2-2 1-2 3 3 11
Browne 20 2-5 0-1 0-0 2 3 4
McCune 3 0-1 0-1 0-0 0 0 0
Williamson 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Noreen 7 0-0 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Team 5
Totals 200 25-44 7-13 28-37 34 17 85
Percentages .568 .538 .757
RUTGERS (8-7, 0-2 BIG EAST)
Player Min FG 3pt FT R A PT
Randall 20 1-1 0-0 0-2 1 0 2
Biruta 29 3-5 0-2 2-6 4 2 8
Seagears 27 4-9 2-4 0-0 4 1 10
Carter 33 6-14 2-7 5-7 4 4 19
Miller 11 0-3 0-1 0-0 2 1 0
Mack 24 1-4 0-2 3-5 0 2 5
Poole 22 4-9 0-0 0-0 1 2 8
Johnson 9 3-3 0-0 0-1 1 0 6
Jack 5 1-2 0-0 0-0 2 0 2
Rigoglioso 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Kone 11 1-1 0-0 2-4 2 1 4
Lewis 7 0-1 0-0 0-0 1 0 0
Kuhn 1 0-0 0-0 0-0 0 0 0
Team 3
Totals 200 24-52 4-16 12-25 25 13 64
Percentages .462 .250 .480
West Virginia 51 34-85
Rutgers 26 38-64
Blocks: WVU 1, Rutgers 2.
Steals: WVU 10 (Bryant 3), Rutgers 9 (Poole 3).
Turnovers: WVU 16, Rutgers 15.
Fouled out: Seagars.
Total fouls: WVU 20, Rutgers 31.
Attendance: 4,815.
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