Bob Huggins notches 800th win as No. 12 Mountaineers roll

Dec 17, 2016, 07:39 pm

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Bob Huggins joined some elite company.

No. 12 West Virginia used a 37-4 first half run to cruise to a 112-67 victory over UMKC, Huggins'800th career win.

Huggins is the 10th head coach to reach 800 NCAA wins, doing so at his alma mater. 

Huggins is the second college basketball coach to achieve the 800-win milestone this week as former Villanova coach Rollie Massimino did it this week as Keiser of the NAIA defeated Trinity Baptist 77-47 on Wednesday.

Boeheim along with former WVU player and Golden State Warriors executive board member Jerry West, Kentucky head coach John Calipari, Louisville head coach Rick Pitino and countless former Cincinnati and WVU players were among those to send their congratulations in a postgame ceremony.

"It was kind of neat seeing all of those former players and all the people who were more a part of it (800 wins) than I am because I didn't score a goal in any of the 800," Huggins said.

Huggins was presented with a jersey with the number 800 printed on it by West Virginia athletic director Shane Lyons following the game.

"Thank you Shane, but I don't think I could've fit into this even when I played," Huggins said.

Among Huggins' 800 wins are two Final Four appearances (1992 with Cincinnati and 2010 with West Virginia), four Elite Eight appearances, seven Sweet 16 appearances and 10 conference championships.

"Eight-hundred wins. How do you pick one?" Huggins answered when asked for his favorite win. "I can't do it. I like beating Cal (John Calipari) but that's way more than one."

Nathan Adrian led seven players in double figures for the Mountaineers (9-1) with 13 points. Daxter Miles Jr. and Esa Ahmad had 12 points each. Elijah Macon led West Virginia with seven rebounds and Jevon Carter had six assists.

"He has a lot of pride in this state and a lot of pride for the game of basketball so you really can't hide that," Adrian said when asked of Huggins' emotions after the game.

The win was the highest scoring output for the Mountaineers this season.

LaVell Boyd led the Kangaroos (7-6) with 14 points.

The 45-point defeat is the worst for UMKC this season beating their 43-point defeat at Kansas earlier this month.