MU stays unbeaten in Big 12/SEC Challenge

~ Missouri improved to 8-0 with an 80-71 win over West Virginia

COLUMBIA, Mo. -- For 34 minutes, Missouri shut down West Virginia's prolific 3-point offense.

Then Missouri lost its focus, according to guard Jordan Clarkson.

The Tigers won 80-71, but only after surviving a late 17-5 run by the Mountaineers. The scare gives Missouri (8-0) something to work on as it welcomes 18th-ranked UCLA to Mizzou Arena on Saturday.

"I think we allowed them to get into the paint," Missouri coach Frank Haith said. "We gave up some broken plays where we weren't back setting our defense. They had some plays where we bobbled some loose rebounds, and they stuck it in."

The Tigers also opted to try to score after grabbing offensive rebounds, rather than working the ball to the perimeter to burn time.

West Virginia (6-3) settled for making 42 percent of its shots after entering the game averaging 85.1 points and shooting nearly 50 percent. The Mountaineers only made eight of 29 shots in the first half.

"We didn't score seemingly for about an hour and a half," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said.

Clarkson scored 25 points and guard Jabari Brown added 18 for the Tigers, who shot 53 percent.

Missouri extended its national-best home-court winning streak to 23 games and has won 78 consecutive games at Mizzou Arena against nonconference competition.

"It's tradition," Clarkson said. "We want to keep that going. Just keep protecting the home court. We can't let anybody come in here and do whatever they want to do."

Juwan Staten scored 16 points, while Gary Browne and Terry Henderson added 14 for West Virginia, which fell to 0-3 against power conference teams.

Missouri scored the first nine points and led throughout as West Virginia never established a rhythm until the end of the night. The Mountaineers also averaged 10 made 3-pointers per game before Thursday, but only converted one of 14 attempts before Browne's make with 7:51 remaining. They finished 4 of 19.

Earnest Ross added 16 points for the Tigers, who have won their first eight games for the first time since the 2006-07 season. Clarkson, Brown and Ross have combined for nearly two-thirds of the Tigers' scoring this season.

Missouri also outrebounded West Virginia 40-32 after the Mountaineers grabbed 62 boards against Loyola Maryland, their most since 64 in a contest against Radford in 1992. West Virginia had been averaging four more boards per game than its opponents.

"I think this team is really taking our focus on being a better defensive team to heart," Haith said. "We've just got to stay with it."

The Mountaineers used a 9-2 run to pull within 27-20 with 4:36 remaining in the first half, but Missouri countered with an identical run to take a 36-22 halftime lead. After Devin Williams opened the second half with a layup, Missouri then scored the next five points.

West Virginia again narrowed the lead late in the second half, as Staten capped the team's 17-5 run with a layup with 1:45 left to narrow the deficit to 73-64. After two free throws by the Tigers' Wes Clark, Rémi Dibo drained a 3-pointer from the corner with 1:10 left to make the score 75-67.

But the Mountaineers couldn't get any closer.