WVU Beats South Florida 56-46
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (KDKA/AP) — West Virginia bounced back from their loss to Marshall earlier in the week to beat the South Florida Bulls 56-46 on Sunday.
The Mountaineers (13-5, 4-2 Big East) overcame a poor shooting performance from both the field and the free throw line by forcing 16 turnovers and grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
John Flowers, Casey Mitchell and Kevin Jones all had 13 points for West Virginia, but Mitchell was able to pull down 14 rebounds for his first career double-double.
Before Sunday night, Mitchell was averaging 3.6 rebounds per game, with his previous high of eight against Mississippi last season.
"I was just trying to be more aggressive today," Mitchell said. "The last game, I waited too late to be more aggressive and I wanted to come out from the jump whether it was defending or scoring to just do something. Tonight it was rebounding."
After holding South Florida to 16 first half points, West Virginia extended their lead to 40-24 with 15:32 left.
South Florida clawed back into the game and closed the gap to 47-41 with 1:44 left in the game. However, that was as close as they would get.
West Virginia will play three of its next five games on the road, starting Wednesday at No. 19 Louisville.
Those five games will all be against Big East competition including a home game against Pitt on Feb. 7.
