Bob Huggins reaches another coaching milestone, WVU beats Penn
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MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Erik Stevenson scored 17 of his 21 points in the first half, and West Virginia used a fast start to beat Penn, 92-58, on Friday night, giving coach Bob Huggins another milestone win.
Huggins, who was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in September, earned his 920th career victory, tying Jim Calhoun for third place all-time among Division I coaches behind Jim Boeheim of Syracuse (999) and recently retired Duke coach Mike Krzyzewski (1,202).
Tre Mitchell, Kedrian Johnson and Joe Toussaint each added 11 points for the Mountaineers (4-0).
Clark Slajchert led Ivy League preseason favorite Penn (1-4) with 20 points.
Mitchell scored nine points in the opening nine minutes, Stevenson had seven and the Mountaineers raced to a 28-9 lead. West Virginia used 13 players in the first half alone.
The lead grew to 52-31 at halftime.
West Virginia shot 64% (18 of 28) before halftime and 55.6% (30 of 54) for the game. Stevenson made his first eight field-goals attempts and sat out most of the second half.
The teams had not met since 1981. Huggins faced an Ivy League school for the first time.
The Mountaineers made four 3-pointers in their previous game against Morehead State. West Virginia made five in the first eight minutes against the Quakers and finished 12 of 23 (52%). But Huggins did not look pleased at times by his team’s defense. West Virginia was outrebounded 38-29.
West Virginia next faces Purdue in Portland, Ore., on Thanksgiving night.