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Huggins' Mountaineers Hand Buckeyes First Loss

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The Associated Press

Published: December 28, 2008

COLUMBUS, Ohio - West Virginia coach Bob Huggins tried to downplay how much beating Ohio State meant to him.

The wide smile, while shaking hands with and winking at Mountaineers fans as he left the court, told a different story.
Alex Ruoff scored 17 points to lead the way in a 76-48 victory over No. 15 Ohio State on Saturday.

It was a particularly sweet victory for Huggins, a schoolboy star in Ohio who played for his famous coaching father. Huggins served as an assistant at Ohio State under Eldon Miller but, after coaching at Akron and turning Cincinnati into a perennial power, was snubbed twice by Ohio State administrators when the head coaching job opened.

On top of that, the Buckeyes wouldn't even schedule Cincinnati while Huggins was there.

"It's always fun to play well in front of friends and family," Huggins said, looking drained after the game. "I had a lot of friends and family here: four sisters, two brothers, their spouses and kids and tons of friends. I've spent the majority of my life here. Probably three-fourths of my life here."

His players knew Huggins had some unfinished business with Ohio State (9-1).

"He came in and he said he was really proud of us. That means a lot coming from him. It's hard to make him proud," Ruoff said of his coach, who hands out compliments about as often as he applauds defensive lapses. "It meant a lot to him."

Da'Sean Butler, who had 14 of his 16 points in the first half, said he could tell the win was special.

"Seeing him come home and beat a team like Ohio State, a team as prestigious as this school, it kind of felt good," Butler said.

The Buckeyes had their perfect season and a 14-game winning streak end, in addition to a 54-game winning streak against unranked teams at home. They were stunned by the lopsided outcome.

"A start to a bad day ended in a horrible day," said Evan Turner, who had 10 points.

NO. 11 MICHIGAN STATE 82,

OAKLAND, MICH. 66

AUBURN HILLS, Mich. - Goran Suton had 16 points and nine rebounds to help No. 11 Michigan State (9-2) beat Oakland (8-7) at the Palace of Auburn Hills.

Suton made his first start in more than a month. He missed six games with a knee injury, then came off the bench in Michigan State's next two games.

Kalin Lucas added 15 points for Michigan State, while Travis Walton had 14.

NO. 19 LOUISVILLE 82, UAB 62

LOUISVILLE, Ky. - Terrence Williams had 21 points, 10 rebounds and seven assists, and Samardo Samuels added 17 points and 11 boards to help No. 19 Louisville (8-2) and its revamped lineup ease by UAB (8-4).

Earl Clark - who didn't start for the first time this season after Coach Rick Pitino chastised him for inconsistent play - had 12 points, four rebounds and three assists as the Cardinals bounced back from a disappointing loss to Minnesota last week.

NO. 25 MISSOURI 107,

SIU-EDWARDSVILLE 57

COLUMBIA, Mo. - DeMarre Carroll had 21 points and 10 rebounds to help No. 25 Missouri (10-2) cruise past SIU-Edwardsville (2-11).

Carroll, averaging 16.5 points a game, tweaked his ankle early in a 75-59 loss to Illinois and scored only six points in his first single-digit scoring effort of the season.

MIAMI 70, ST. JOHN'S 56

NEW YORK - Jack McClinton scored all of his 20 points in the game's first 26 1/2 minutes and James Dews had seven of his nine in a 9-0 second-half run as Miami beat St. John's at Madison Square Garden.

McClinton matched his season high with five 3-pointers, including two in the second half when Miami retook control of the game. The first was on an inbounds play with 14:21 to play and the second was from about 26 feet and gave the Hurricanes (8-3) a 46-36 lead with 13:46 left.

Dews started Miami's run that broke the game open with a 3 and he ended with a jumper that made it 55-39.

Freshman guard Quincy Roberts had a season-high 14 points for the Red Storm (9-3).

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