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MORGANTOWN -- For most coaches, a 10-game winning streak just before the Christmas holiday would be a reason for glee.
West Virginia men's basketball coach Bob Huggins isn't one of those coaches, however.
"No," Huggins said when asked about his team's success. "We've won 10 in a row? I thought we were horrible. I know that looks bad in the paper.
"But, we didn't practice well. We didn't prepare well. They didn't have the same bounce or the same enthusiasm. I wasn't a bit shocked that we shot that bad. We hadn't shot well in practice for two days."
WVU is coming off a 77-38 victory over a winless Coppin State in a game where the Mountianeers connected on 24 of 77 shots from the floor (31.2 percent) and 23 of 37 from the free-throw line (62.2 percent).
"Horrific," Huggins said. "That was a horrific display of shooting the ball. But, then again, we didn't have very good practices. The guys haven't been in the gym as much as they were earlier."
The No. 10 Mountaineers also were without the services of third-leading scorer Lamont West (11.9 ppg), who sprained an ankle in practice and is listed as day-to-day heading into Saturday's noon tipoff.
"I told Lamont that I wouldn't have that sprained ankle for long because he might not have a job when he comes back," Huggins said. "I try to make it as real as possible."
Taking up the slack was true freshman Teddy Allen, who connected on 8 of 19 shots from the floor and 6 of 7 from the free-throw line to finish with a game-high 24 points.
"That's Teddy," Huggins said smiling. "It's hard to tell Teddy what a good shot is and what isn't. We've got to clean up his shot selection. It's a fine line. He has what all great scorers have -- no consensus."
Huggins will go with his normal starting five of seniors Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. at the guards with sophomores Wesley Harris and Sagaba Konate at the forwards. If West is a go, he will round out the starting five. However, if he is still sidelined fans can look for either sophomore Chase Harler, who made his first career start against Coppin State, or Allen.
Carter continues to lead the team in scoring with an 18.9 points per game norm. Joining him in double figures is Miles (14.3) and sophomore reserve James 'Beetle' Bolden (11.0).
Fordham, coached by former John Beilein assistant Jeff Neubauer, will go with senior Will Tavares (16.6 ppg), junior Joseph Chartouny (10.8) and sophomore Tre Evans (7.1) at the guards with junior Prokop Slanina (12.8) and freshman Ivan Raut (8.0) at the forwards.
West Virginia and Fordham will be meeting for the third time on the court, but the first since 1949. In that meeting the Mountaineers captured a 61-37 victory.
Fordham is 5-6 on the season following a 79-69 win over Florida A&M on Thursday.
"Jeff (Neubauer) has done an unbelievable job and I'm sure he will have his guys ready," Huggins said.
Saturday will be the Mountaineers' final non-conference contest before entering Big 12 play six days later at Oklahoma State.
"The fans have been absolutely phenomenal," Huggins said. "It would be nice to send the players off to the holidays with a sellout."