Article Photos

Advertisement

MORGANTOWN - Miami University coach Charlie Coles was beside himself in trying to explain why his team, which had been highly competitive against both UCLA and Xavier earlier this season, was so thoroughly dominated in an 82-46 loss to West Virginia on Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.

''We missed that first layup and from there on in, that was it,'' Coles said. ''I can't ever remember a team having all the answers against us like they did.''

The only time the RedHawks (6-4) did have an answer for the Mountaineers (8-2), it came well before this game started and it was the wrong one, according to Miami's coach.

Coles told of how he was in the hospital with heart problems last year when West Virginia coach Bob Huggins called one of his assistants and boasted proudly of his hometown in an effort to get the RedHawks in for a visit.

''He made Morgantown seem like it was Miami Beach,'' Coles said.

This turned out to be no vacation for the RedHawks.

Da'Sean Butler scored a career-best 28 points, including a 3-pointer late in the game that put him past 1,000 at WVU, and Alex Ruoff returned from injury to fill a stat sheet like he'd never done, as West Virginia controlled from the start.

Ruoff, who said his only hope upon his return was that he didn't do anything to hurt the team, scored 15 points, had eight assists, four rebounds, two blocks, three steals, made a pair of 3-pointers, all three of his free throws, broke up a 4-on-1 defensively, and drew a couple of charges in 35 minutes.

''I'm very thankful and happy that I'm back because I had a lot of fun out there,'' said Ruoff, who'd been out because of back spasms.

Miami, which was without staring point guard and second-leading scorer Kenny Hayes, turned the ball over 26 times 15 more than its average - and never could get anything going against West Virginia's sticky defense.

''We just fell apart,'' Coles said. ''That's the first thing we talk about. We can't turn it over. When we do, we're not a very good team.''

A 25-2 Mountaineers run that spanned 9 1/2 minutes of the first half gave them a 45-12 lead just before halftime. They did more of the same in the second half, pushing the lead to as much as 41 just before the benches emptied.

The motion and cutting offense Coles employs that usually leads to a mismatch somewhere didn't Saturday. The Mountaineers had a week to practice, and they worked on helping and switching throughout most of it.

As a result, nobody was ever open for the RedHawks, which is why they had only five baskets in the first half.

''(West Virginia has) a great advantage because it looks like at least four of them are all the same size,'' Coles said. ''They can switch off on you and not get hurt.''

Huggins, who isn't an easy to guy to please, liked what he saw.

''I thought we did a really good job defensively,'' he said. ''That's a good team.''

On the other end of the floor, the Mountaineers made half their shots (31 of 62), including 12 of 30 from beyond the 3-point arc. Freshman Truck Bryant, getting major minutes as Joe Mazzulla remains out with a shoulder injury, made 4 of 5 from long range and finished with 16 points.

''We were making shots,'' Bryant said. ''When we're making shots, we play 100 times better.''

A lot of the credit went to Ruoff, the team's only senior and unquestioned leader.

''It's a huge difference (when he's in there) because they have to guard him,'' Huggins said. ''It opens up so many more things, it opens up more driving lanes for us, it opens up more cutting lanes for us, and he passes the ball. He's somebody that we can run offense through because he passes the ball and does a good job of reading a defense and making more than one look at more than just one option.''

West Virginia's Kevin Jones had eight rebounds and eight points, including a dunk off a well-located ally-oop pass from Ruoff.

Miami's Michael Bramos, who averages 20.2 points per game, was limited to 14 points.