Huggins has some nice things to say about the Vikings after his team's victory on Saturday.
View full sizeWest Virginia coach Bob Huggins.MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and his Mountaineers gave Cleveland State its first loss of the season, but he was still impressed with the now 12-1 Vikings.
"I like their team," Huggins said after WVU notched a 74-63 win on its home court. "I think they've got a great bench. Gary [Waters] can go to a bunch of people. I think [Joe] Latas really hurt us. I like them a lot."
Latas, the 6-11, 280-pound junior, played 16 minutes against the Mountaineers and grabbed five offensive rebounds and delivered two points.
By the numbers: Going into Saturday's game, only one team this season had scored 70 or more points against the Vikings. . . Only three teams entering Saturday had shot better than 40 percent against Cleveland State: Bryant shot 47.8 percent in the opener, Sam Houston State shot 46.2 percent and Green Bay shot 43.9 percent. West Virginia scored 73 on 47.4 percent shooting.
Hands (almost) off: Last season, Cleveland State's 6-9, 275-pound Aaron Pogue fouled out of eight games and had four fouls in 15 others. Before the West Virginia game, the junior center had fouled out of only two games (Kent State, Green Bay) but was whistled for four fouls in six others. At that pace, over a 36-game season, Pogue would foul out of six games and have four fouls in 18.
A big plus keeping Pogue around has been the emergence of Latas off the bench. Latas is averaging 10.6 minutes per game, by far the most of his career. He has fouled out of two games this season and has four fouls in one other game. And Saturday? Pogue fouled out while Latas committed two fouls.
Anybody home? Cleveland State will play back-to-back games against Big East teams as South Florida visits the Wolstein Center on Wednesday for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
The Vikings haven't drawn a crowd of more than 3,000 this season. Through seven home games, CSU is averaging 1,899 fans per game. The highest attendance was the third game of the season against Kent State (2,805).
Wednesday's game will be a matchup between two former Kent State head coaches, Gary Waters and Stan Heath, and both have already played KSU this season. CSU defeated the Golden Flashes, 69-66, at home while Heath lost to KSU on the road, 56-51.
To reach this Plain Dealer reporter: ealexander@plaind.com, 216-999-4253