MORGANTOWN - Kevin Jones would love to thank all of his poor-shooting teammates through the years for helping him to become West Virginia's all-time leading offensive rebounder, but he knows that would only be half right.
"I think half of the offensive rebounds I got have been my own misses," joked Jones, who had 10 offensive rebounds to push his career total to 330 - seven more than Chris Brooks - as he led the Mountaineers to a rather easy 97-62 victory against Alcorn State on Thursday night at the WVU Coliseum.
Jones also scored a career-high 29 points for the Mountaineers (2-1), who rebounded from a loss Tuesday that snapped their 36-game, non-conference winning streak at home.
Five players scored in double figures Deniz Kilicli and Jabarie Hinds each had 10, Truck Bryant had 18, and Kevin Noreen came off the bench to get 12. Noreen was 6 of 7 from the floor and is 13 of 15 for his career (.866), which is 10 games old following a redshirt season.
Still, this night was all about Jones, who is in the final season of a very memorable Mountaineers career.
Jones doesn't know about that, but he knows the percentages on missed shots (Huggins studies them) 7 of 10 end up on the opposite side of the rim.
Fact Box
WEST VIRGINIA 97, ALCORN ST. 62
ALCORN ST. (1-1)
Francis 3-5 2-4 8, Starks 2-2 0-0 4, Brand 4-10 2-2 12, Oakley 3-7 0-0 8, Baker 3-15 5-11 12, McDonald 1-3 0-0 2, Hawkins 2-8 1-2 6, Moore 2-3 0-0 4, Tufono 0-1 0-0 0, Rimmer 1-4 2-4 4, Sullivan 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 22-62 12-23 62.
WEST VIRGINIA (2-1)
Jones 13-21 0-0 29, Miles 0-2 0-1 0, Kilicli 3-8 4-6 10, Hinds 3-4 3-4 10, Bryant 5-10 7-11 18, Rutledge 0-0 0-2 0, Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Browne 3-9 2-5 8, Forsythe 0-4 3-4 3, McCune 0-1 0-0 0, Williamson 2-4 1-2 7, Noreen 6-7 0-0 12. Totals 35-72 20-35 97.
Halftime-West Virginia 44-28. 3-Point Goals-Alcorn St. 6-22 (Brand 2-3, Oakley 2-6, Hawkins 1-5, Baker 1-6, Rimmer 0-1, Sullivan 0-1), West Virginia 7-20 (Jones 3-8, Williamson 2-4, Hinds 1-1, Bryant 1-3, Brown 0-1, McCune 0-1, Browne 0-2). Fouled Out-Brand, Francis, Starks. Rebounds-Alcorn St. 35 (Francis 10), West Virginia 57 (Jones 13). Assists-Alcorn St. 7 (Baker, Moore 2), West Virginia 18 (Browne, Bryant, Hinds 4). Total Fouls-Alcorn St. 27, West Virginia 19. A-6,059.
As for the particulars, the Mountaineers led 44-28 at halftime against the debuting Braves (0-1), who were 4-23 last season, actually had more new guys on the roster than the Mountaineers, and were introducing a new coach in Luther Riley, a one-time grad assistant at Alcorn who spent the previous 11 years as a high school coach in Mississippi.
After 20 minutes, Jones already had 20 points and 10 rebounds on 9 of 15 shooting. The final score produced West Virginia's largest lead of the night (35) when Gary Browne, who had eight points and 12 rebounds off the bench, dropped in a layup with 16 seconds left. Those was a part of a 30-point outburst by the Mountaineers bench.
Included in that was a seven-point night by Paul Williamson, a walk-on from Logan High School and the seventh true freshman to take the floor for the Mountaineers this season, hit a pair of 3-pointers in the first half and wound up playing 19 minutes.
It was a dream come true for the longtime WVU fan, who passed up scholarship offers from others to walk-on in Morgantown.
West Virginia shot 48 percent for the game (35 of 72), while limiting the Braves to 35.5 percent (22-62). The free-throw shooting wasn't much better (20 of 35), but they did hit a season-high seven 3-pointers, including three by Jones.
