MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) - Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate had double-doubles to lead No. 10 West Virginia to its picked up his second double-double 11th straight victory, 86-69 over Fordham on Saturday.
The Mountaineers (11-1) started out a little sluggish but managed a 16-point lead with 4 minutes left in the first half.
Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins wasn’t impressed with the win.
“We played bad and scored 86,” Huggins said. “That’s not a bad deal when you play really bad and score 86, and we played bad. Played bad, shot it bad, passed it bad.”
Carter had 10 points and a career-high 12 assists and Konate finished with 12 points and 11 rebounds, both getting their second double-double of the season.
Daxter Miles Jr. led the Mountaineers with 21 points and Lamont West added 15.
“(We’ve) got to turn it up (for Big 12 play),” Miles said. “(It’s) different level competition and guys need to be ready to play.”
Will Tavares led Fordham with 18 points and seven rebounds, while Joseph Chartouny added 16 points.
“We did do some good things offensively,” Rams coach Jeff Neubauer said. “We just didn’t do 40 minutes of good things.”
BIG PICTURE
Fordham picked up a moral victory in Morgantown, staying competitive with the nationally ranked Mountaineers for an entire 40 minutes, and will look to regroup by starting their Atlantic 10 schedule at VCU.
West Virginia will ride their 11-game winning streak into Big 12 play with road games at Oklahoma State and Kansas State.
RETURN TO MORGANTOWN
Before taking the Fordham job in 2015, Neubauer was an assistant coach at West Virginia under John Beilein between 2002 and 2005, helping the Mountaineers to their first Elite Eight appearance since 1959 in his final season with WVU.
“As the bus rolled into Morgantown last night, a lot of memories and stories just came to mind,” Neubauer said. “We had three great years here and three years that I’m really proud of.”
ELITE COMPANY
With WVU’s win over Fordham, Huggins ties long-time Mount St. Mary’s coach Jim Phelan as the seventh all-time winningest coach in NCAA Division I history.
On Thursday, Huggins was among six head coaches eligible to enter the Naismith Hall of Fame in 2018.
POLL IMPLICATIONS
With wins over Coppin State and Fordham, it’s unlikely that the Mountaineers will go up in the AP Top 25 on their own merits. West Virginia might go up one or two spots due to No. 5 North Carolina’s loss to Wofford on Wednesday and No. 9 Xavier’s shaky wins over Marshall and Northern Iowa.
UP NEXT
Fordham opens Atlantic 10 play at VCU on Dec. 30.
West Virginia starts the Big 12 season at Oklahoma State on Friday.
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