West, Carter Come Up Big to Take Down "East Virginia"

Photo Credit: BlueGoldNews.com

Jevon Carter is just better than everyone else.

After last night's performance against the Virginia Cavaliers, there's no other way to say it. He's going to overcome whoever and whatever the other team throws at him.

Carter led both teams with 23 points, which isn't surprising. He led both teams with seven assists, which also isn't shocking. He tied for the most steals, which is only surprising in that he wasn't alone at the top of that column. What may be most impressive, though, is that he also led all players - both teams - in rebounds (10).

His 23 points combined with 22 from Lamont West and 12 from Daxter Miles to account for 57 of WVU's 68 points. Wesley Harris added five more, while Beetle Bolden provided the only bench scoring with six, knocking down two of three from behind the arc.

It was an especially good game for West, who shot 44.4% from three, was a perfect 4-4 at the line, and collected four rebounds while tying for the second highest point total of his career.

Photo Credit: Associated Press

West's points showed up in a lot of key moments, including 10 in the final 6:02 of the game. After back to back three pointers by Virginia's Kyle Guy to tie the game at 51-51, West drained a three of his own to push it back to 54-51. After another by Guy a minute later to tie it at 56-56, West knocked down a tough jumper to retake the lead 58-56. Guy missed his next attempt, but West kept laying it on and hit one more to extend the lead to 61-56. He also added two clutch free throws to help close out the game. It was the kind of gutty performance we saw from Lamont repeatedly throughout the 2016-17 season.

Photo Credit: BlueGoldNews.com

Sagaba Konate played 34 minutes and was held scoreless, though he pulled down eight rebounds and recorded two blocks. He also had a third block that was whistled for goal-tending, though the replay clearly showed the ball was still on its way up. It was one of a number of questionable calls throughout the game.

The team's lack of depth showed itself in this game, resulting in the starters playing 172 out of 200 minutes and accounting for all but six points, three rebounds, and one steal. This may be indicative of how Coach Huggins plans to operate in close games until Esa Ahmad makes it back.

In the meantime, it's nice to see different guys stepping up when others are having an off night. With Konate going scoreless and Miles shooting 4-13 from the field and 1-6 from three, West took it upon himself to help Carter carry the load. We've now seen that from Bolden, Miles, Konate, Harris, and West already this season.

But there are at least 23 teams this season who are going to watch one guy outwork and outplay them for 40 minutes. They're going to remember Jevon Carter.