DePaul falls to West Virginia 82-63

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. -- Alex Ruoff scored 20 points and tied West Virginia's career record for 3-point field goals as the Mountaineers rolled past hapless DePaul 82-63 on Wednesday night.

Ruoff made six 3s, giving him 253 for his career to tie the school record held by former teammate Kevin Pittsnogle.

West Virginia also clinched a first-round bye in next week's Big East Tournament at Madison Square Garden. This season, the top eight seeds receive first-round byes.

While the Mountaineers (21-9, 10-7) continued their climb in the Big East, the Blue Demons continued one of the toughest seasons in the history of the conference. If DePaul (8-22, 0-17) falls at Georgetown on Saturday, it will mark the first time since 1994 that a team has gone through Big East play without a conference win.

The Mountaineers got the victory despite a Herculean effort from DePaul's Will Walker, who finished with 31 points and made 7 of 12 shots from 3-point range. The Blue Demons shot 11 of 18 from beyond the arc.

Yet that wasn't enough to topple West Virginia. The Mountaineers also got double-doubles from Da'Sean Butler (16 points, 10 rebounds) and Devin Ebanks (14 points, 14 rebounds). Kevin Jones narrowly missed a double-double, finishing with a career-high 13 points and nine rebounds.

West Virginia shot 45.7 percent from the floor and 45.5 percent from 3-point range. The Mountaineers also won the battle of the boards with a decisive 48-30 advantage, which included 22 offensive rebounds leading to 17 second-chance points.