Associated Press

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (AP) — Javon Small scored 27 to lead West Virginia to an 84-61 victory over Bethune-Cookman on Saturday night.

Small made 7 of 15 shots from the floor with two 3-pointers and all 11 of his free throws for the Mountaineers (8-2), who have won four in a row and improved to 6-0 at home. He added six rebounds and six assists and blocked two shots.

Aman Hansberry totaled 16 points and six rebounds for West Virginia. Jonathan Powell sank four 3-pointers and scored 14. Sencire Harris pitched in with 12 points, seven rebounds and two blocks.

Brayon Freeman led the Wildcats (2-8) with 14 points on 6-for-18 shooting. Daniel Rouzan had 13 points, while Trey Thomas and Reggie Ward Jr. both scored 12. Ward added seven boards. Bethune-Cookman has lost all seven road games this season.

Small had 12 points and four assists to help West Virginia take a 41-30 lead into halftime. The Mountaineers shot 51.7% from the floor, made 6 of 13 from 3-point range and all five of their free throws in building the lead. They used an 11-0 run to turn a five-point lead into a 26-10 advantage. Rouzan had nine points for the Wildcats, who shot 33% overall with one 3-pointer and made 9 of 14 at the foul line before the intermission.

Thomas followed his 3-pointer with a layup to pull Bethune-Cookman within 45-39 with 16 minutes remaining. Jonathan Powell answered with a 3-pointer to spark a 7-0 run and the Mountaineers led by double digits from there.

West Virginia is idle until hosting Mercyhurst on Dec. 22.

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Nostalgia has hit Morgantown with the hiring of Rich Rodriguez as head coach for his second stint leading the Mountaineers.

Pat White quarterbacked West Virginia from 2005 to ’08. White was with Rodriguez for three of those years, before the coach left Morgantown to take the University of Michigan job in 2008. The duo won in Morgantown, touting a 32-5 record together with the Mountaineers.

Now, with Rodriguez back in town, White was asked about his interest in his own return on BetOnline’s “The Pacman Jones Show.”

Jones, a West Virginia alum himself, lobbied for White’s return to the university, calling a potential move a “no-brainer.”

“It would be nice to be back in them mountains, man,” White said in response to Jones. “Back connecting with my guy Rich.”

Jones asked White if a return to his alma mater is something he’d seriously consider.

“Morgantown is a second home. I love coaching the game of football,” White continued. “And to have an opportunity to work with a guy who helped me make a name for myself and getting there to allow another guy similar to myself build a name for himself and finally get that national championship Morgantown has been waiting on.”

White spent time on the coaching staffs at Alcorn State, South Florida and Alabama State. He was also an offensive assistant with the Los Angeles Chargers from 2022 to ’23.

There are only fond memories of the Pat White-era in West Virginia. Now, with Rodriguez’s return, he may be on his way back too in an effort to help restore the program’s winning ways.

As Rich Rodriguez transitions into becoming the head coach of West Virginia, his tendencies and how he attacks each game schematically won’t change just because he has a new job.

Rodriguez is known for his hurry-up style offense. His strong run game includes the quarterback as a big part, which Rodriguez does not envision changing.

“Certain things have changed a little bit. I always thought the tempo and playing fast, who wants to watch a lot of fat guys hold hands in a huddle, so when we huddle up, it’s like a trick play for us,” Rodriguez said.

At Jax State this past season, the Gamecocks’ offense ranked 58th in the country in plays per game and third nationally in rushing attempts per game, showing Rodriguez’s desire to run the ball and go fast at the same time.

Jax State quarterback Tyler Huff was 12th in the nation this season in rushing yards and was second among all quarterbacks in rushing 1,343 yards on the ground. Jax State also ran the ball on 67 percent of their possessions, which was fourth in the country, only behind the three service academies.

Defensively, there is a style Rodriguez wants to play with, but he’s unsure of the specifics of the specific schematics of it all.

“It depends on the coordinator I hire. I have a couple that I’ve talked to, I have a couple in mind, and they’re both different, they’re not the same. Everybody runs a little bit of everything now defensively, whether it’s an odd-stack or an even front, and everybody kind of has certain personnel packages they use on defense. I’m going to pick the d-coordinator, I’ll have a really good one because I have enough resources to hire a really, really, good one, and then from there, I’ll build out the defensive staff,” Rodriguez said of who will be leading his defense.

Rodriguez added he wants to pressure opposing teams and be the aggressor on defense rather than let the offense dictate the style of play.

“There’s not one particular scheme that I want other than I want us to be really, really, aggressive, and I want to force the issue so to speak on the other team,” Rodriguez said.

Rodriguez and the Gamecocks had a 76.4 overall grade on defense per Pro Football Focus this season but graded out to 61.2 in the pass rush grade category.