HALFTIME

Halftime and West Virginia has climbed back into it (they are Mountaineers, after all). WVU trailed by as many as 16 points (28-12), but the Coal Mine Crew outscored Xavier 13-4 over the last seven minutes or so to go into the break down 32-25.

Oh, Huggins will still toss objects in the locker room, but they won't be as large.

WVU did this with star Joe Alexander on the bench for much of the half. Alexander, Alex Ruoff  and Darris Nichols each have two fouls and a combined ten points. If not for reserve Wellington Smith's 8 points, WVU might be in deeper trouble. Wellington Smith: that's first-team All-Gatsby material, college division.

Stats are actually pretty even: same number of fouls (9), same number of missed free throws (2), same number of steals (2), same number of turnovers (7), and same number of offensive rebounds (8) for both teams. The difference, as mentioned earlier, is three-point shooting. Xavier is 6 of 11, while WVU is 0 for 6.

Be back soon. I have to go talk to a Phoenix Suns marketing rep about the team referring to itself as "Planet Orange" this season. A star referrring to itself as a planet? That's ass-tronomical. Or astro-comical. You decide.