College of Charleston
2-4
West Virginia
7-0
No. 21 West Virginia Remains Undefeated, Downs Cougars, 86-57
11/30/2014 4:38:00 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Freshmen Donovan Gilmore (Greensboro, N.C.) and Evan Bailey (Canton, Ohio) combined for 26 points as the College of Charleston fell on the road at No. 21-ranked West Virginia, 86-57, on Saturday night at WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers (7-0) remain undefeated as their full-court press presented problems throughout the ballgame for the upset-minded Cougars (2-4), who committed a season-high 18 turnovers.
CofC managed to break the WVU press keeping the game in single digits for the majority of the first half. Sophomore Joe Chealey (Orlando, Fla.) scored the opening layup as the Cougars held the Mountaineers without a basket for the first 2:10. Chealey ended the night with 10 points, six assists, two rebounds and one block.
With the Cougars getting into foul trouble early, Bailey came off the bench and went 3-for-6 from long range to lead all scorers with 13 points before halftime. CofC trailed only by nine, 38-29, at the intermission.
Gilmore made his first career start and added 13 points in 21 minutes of production inside against West Virginia's bigs including Jonathan Holton, who turned in a double-double with a game-high 21 points and 10 rebounds.
The Mountaineers pulled away in the second half as it went on a 14-2 run and held the Cougars scoreless for a seven-minute span. A turnaround jumper by senior Adjehi Baru (Abidjan, Ivory Coast) ended the drought at the 11:41 minute mark, but it wasn't enough to spark a comeback against WVU, who won the Puerto Rico Tip-Off and is off to its best start since 2009-10.
The Cougars return home for a pre-finals week tilt with crosstown rival The Citadel (3-3) on Tuesday, Dec. 2 at 7:30 p.m. (ET) at TD Arena. The game will be televised live locally on MyTV Charleston.
POSTGAME NOTES
• For the first time this season, the Cougars went with the starting lineup of Joe Chealey, Anthony Stitt, Canyon Barry, Donovan Gilmore and Adjehi Baru. It marked the first career start for Gilmore.
• West Virginia now leads 1-0 in the all-time series with College of Charleston. Both teams met for the first time in program history in the non-bracketed game in conjunction with the Puerto Rico Tip-Off.
• The Cougars are now 6-19 all-time against Top 25-ranked opponents and 3-2 versus teams hailing from the Big 12 Conference. WVU was CofC's second Top 25 foe in its last four games next to No. 17 and defending national champion Connecticut in the opening round of the Puerto Rico Tip-Off on Nov. 20.
• Joe Chealey has now scored in double figures in four of the last five contests including 10 points at No. 17 West Virginia. He also dished out a team-and game-high six assists.
• Evan Bailey came off the bench and scored a career-high 13 points including three first-half three-pointers in a career-high 20 minutes of action against the Mountaineers.
• Donovan Gilmore turned in his fourth game of the season in double figures with 13 points.
• The freshmen class combined for 31 of the team's 57 points at West Virginia including five points from Cameron Johnson along with Bailey and Gilmore's contributions.
• The 29-point margin of victory was the largest by a CofC opponent since a 42-point loss to No. 5 Louisville on Dec. 4, 2012.
• CofC committed a season-high 18 turnovers which the Mountaineers were able to convert into 24 points.
• For the second game in a row, CofC shared the basketball well with 14 assists on 21 made field-goal shots against West Virginia. The Cougars have now dished out 10-or-more assists in a single game three times this season.
POSTGAME QUOTES
College of Charleston Head Coach Earl Grant
On not being able to stop West Virginia's second-half run …
“It was a combination. Some of it was West Virginia stepping up. Obviously, they play really hard. It was hard for us, because they wore us down. I didn't have enough confidence to sub and keep our guys fresh. Every time we turned it over, we had to chase them. There was a two-minute spell where we chased them three-or-four times in a row. From that point, we could never get the game back under control.”
On Evan Bailey's contributions off the bench …
“He (Evan Bailey) shot the ball well. I knew coming into this game, I wanted to get him going and playing, especially with Terrance O'Donohue being out. We tried to do some different things, be unorthodox, and play a little smaller at the four (position) and with a guy who could make a shot. The problem is, my two four-men are freshmen (Evan Bailey and Donovan Gilmore). West Virginia's big guy got excited and tried to get offensive rebounds. It was a tough match-up for both of them tonight.”
On West Virginia's 20 offensive rebounds …
“When you turn it over and they (West Virginia) are running to the other end, it's hard to get your matchup. There were too many possessions where we were too busy chasing them, the shot would go up and we couldn't get the offensive rebound. They just out-toughed us tonight and we have to do a better job.”
