Jackson Fields impresses in debut, WVU shows balance in running past Mercyhurst

Nov. 30—MORGANTOWN — West Virginia was the ultimate balanced equation Sunday in knocking off Mercyhurst, 70-38, inside the Hope Coliseum.

Whatever was presented on top was also presented on the bottom. The right side saw an almost mirror image on the left side.

BOX SCORE WVU forward Jackson Fields made his debut against the Lakers (3-5). He played 12 minutes and displayed a lot of athleticism in scoring nine points. Chance Moore played his third game of the season and became the seventh different player to lead the Mountaineers (6-2) in scoring after going for 11 points on 4 of 6 shooting, while adding nine rebounds.

"I would say it shows that we're an unselfish team, " Moore said of WVU having so many different leading scorers over the first eight games. "This is one of the most unselfish teams I've ever been a part of. We're always looking to make the extra pass, the extra play.

"I feel like that will end up paying dividends in the long run."

WVU men's head coach Ross Hodge is now the equation professor, of sorts, the one who ultimately gets to enjoy the spoils of having so many options presented to him.

"I don't think any coach would ever sit up here and say we have too many options, " Hodge said.

True, but he's now the guy who has to figure out how to keep things in balance.

What that means is a college basketball game — without overtimes — is just 40 minutes long. Moore and Fields are throwing their names into a ring that includes WVU's starting five, as well as reserves D.J. Thomas, Morris Ugusuk and Amir Jenkins. That's 10 guys, one could argue, who can make an excellent case for lots of playing time.

Essentially, Hodge already has the round pegs. Does he have enough round holes to insert those pegs ?

"To speak to your point, it could lengthen and elongate the amount of time before we're really at our best, " Hodge continued. "You are adding two pieces into the mix. As a coach, you want options, but you're also trying to figure out what are your best lineup combinations."

Against Mercyhurst, it was as balanced as a good Cabernet Sauvignon and porterhouse steak dinner.

Moore had 11 points and Jenkins finished with 10. Treysen Eaglestaff and Brenen Lorient joined Fields with nine points. WVU's starters scored 33, while the bench provided 37. WVU's starting five combined for 20 rebounds, while the Mountaineers' reserves chipped in 21 more.

See, balance.

"Tonight, we played Jasper (Floyd) and Amir together a lot for the first time this season, " Hodge said. "A lot of it will be dictated by the players' ability to execute what you're asking them to do. The more people you get executing at the level you want, then you do have difficult decisions as a coach.

"It'll take this group a little while, that's why our defense has to anchor us. We'll be finding ourselves and finding our rhythm. The more they play together, the better they will be."

That defense held Mercyhurst to just 33.3 % (16 of 48) shooting. The Lakers cut WVU's lead to 18-15 with 10:53 remaining in the first half. It took Mercyhurst just shy of 24 minutes of action to score another 15 points.

Mercyhurst's 38 points was the lowest total for a WVU opponent in the Hope Coliseum since Coppin State was also held to 38 points in 2017.

"I thought our attention to detail was good, " Hodge said. "Our communication was good. We were switching a lot, so obviously you're going to be guarding different people. In the first half, we didn't communicate nearly enough. As the game went on, we were able to communicate a lot more clearly and leveled them off and kept them out of the paint."