Notes From Saturday’s Win Over Nicholls

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The Mountaineers will not play in front of their home fans for four weeks until Jan. 11 as the team heads out on a four-game road trip that includes stops in Youngstown, Cleveland, Lawrence and Stillwater.

West Virginia put on a bit of a show for the home crowd to remember them by Saturday, defeating Nicholls 83-57.

Double Trouble for Culver and Tshiebwe

WVU’s star big men, Derek Culver and Oscar Tehiebwe, both scored double-doubles for the first time together.

Culver scored 16 points and grabbed 16 rebounds and Tshiebwe scored 15 and brought down 11.

Culver and Tshiebwe have individually had good games this season, but Saturday was the first time the duo really succeeded at the same time. It was Tshiebwe’s fifth double-double of the season and Culver’s third.

Previous Culver, Tshiebwe and coach Bob Huggins have said that the two are not accustomed to playing alongside someone with similar skillsets to theirs and that they did not know how to play together.

“They’re getting better, we’re all getting better,” Huggins said after the win.

Haley Held Out

Senior Jermaine Haley did not appear in Saturday’s game. Huggins said it was purely a coach’s decision.

Haley has started every game this season, averaging 24.8 minutes played. Haley is second on the team in scoring, averaging 11.1 points.

Fellow senior Chase Harler started in Haley’s place at guard. Harler scored three points on 1-6 shooting.

D’Angelo Hunter Returns to Morgantown

Former Mountaineer D’Angelo Hunter made his return to Morgantown Saturday afternoon. Hunter transferred to Nicholls after playing the 2017-18 season at WVU.

Hunter averaged 1.5 points and 5.5 minutes per game in his lone season as a Mountaineer.

Huggins said it was not that weird to Hunter to come back because WVU is so new that basically none of the guys on this year’s team knew him.

“D’Angelo’s a good guy, I enjoyed D’Angelo,” Huggins said. “We’ve got pretty much a whole new team. Our guys don’t know D’Angelo, coaches do but not the players.”

The only Mountaineers on this year’s team that played with Hunter are senior Logan Routt and Chase Harler.