WEST VIRGINIA

ANAHEIM, Calif. - There are different ways to qualify the impact Casey Mitchell can make on West Virginia's basketball team. Certainly the most obvious place to start is to look at box scores and Thursday's opening game at the 76 Classic at the Anaheim Convention Center. The 2009 national junior college player of the year made four 3-pointers and led all scorers with 18 points in just 15 minutes as his reputation for instant offense was strengthened in the 85-62 victory for the eighth-ranked Mountaineers against Long Beach State. Perhaps more significant is the way Da'Sean Butler noticed how Mitchell influences the game. "Early on I could see the man guarding me getting frustrated," Butler said. "He was putting all his energy into stopping me and I wasn't really even doing anything, just pretty much getting back on defense. I wasn't even taking many shots and we were winning. It makes it easier on me just to know I have another teammate that can produce. It doesn't all have to go through me." WVU plays Texas A&M at 2:30 p.m. today on ESPN. The winner advances to Sunday's championship game. Mitchell made four 3s in the first 4:18 and the Mountaineers (3-0) built a double-digit lead barely five minutes into the game. "We panicked," said Long Beach State's T.J. Robinson. Butler, the fifth-leading returning scorer in the Big East and a preseason first-team all-conference pick, had nine points and took just six shots in the first half, though WVU led, 40-24. Eight Mountaineers scored and contributed to 15-for-31 shooting, including 7-for-13 from 3-point range, against a handful of presses and zones the 49ers tried without much success. "We weren't going to press West Virginia into 20 turnovers," Coach Dan Monson said. "That's just not going to happen against them, so what we were trying to do - and this was our only chance - was to get them out of rhythm. It couldn't have worked any worse." WVU, which again played without Devin Ebanks, ran away early in the second half when the 49ers (3-2) cut the lead to 14 points. The Mountaineers scored nine straight points in a 13-3 run. Mitchell made a layup, Darryl "Truck" Bryant hit a 3 and Kevin Jones and Dan Jennings both dunked. The source of the scores was indicative of Long Beach State's trouble guarding because of a fear of Mitchell on the perimeter. "It takes away their pressure," WVU Coach Bob Huggins said. "They can't put as much pressure on the ball if they're concerned about the outside, particularly with Casey making shots like that." Mitchell, who was 4-for-13 from 3-point range in the first two games, came out with 11 minutes left in the game. "Coming into the game, I felt I was taking bad shots," Mitchell said. "I needed to try to take good shots and focus on making good decisions." Butler missed his only shot in the second half, but finished with 13 points and devoted his focus to defense. Long Beach State's Larry Anderson, who was averaging 18.8 points and five assists per game, had five points and four assists. "I've never had a game like that," Anderson said. He was 0-for-1 from the floor and committed eight turnovers. "There wasn't much to do other than sit down and play defense," Butler said. "He shoots the ball really well and he's an excellent driver. He posts up. He does a lot of things to help his team. There was no one thing to do to contain him other than just sit down and keep him from scoring." WVU's Jonnie West had a career-high 11 points and three 3-pointers. Jones had 10 points, nine rebounds and career-high five assists. Jennings had eight points and three rebounds, but fouled out in just eight second-half minutes. Fellow freshman Dalton Pepper had two 3s for six points. Joe Mazzulla finished with five points, four rebounds and three assists in 11 minutes. "We were looking for an opportunity to show everyone what we've been working on the last two weeks," Mazzulla said. "We'd only played two games and we've been beating each other up, so we were looking forward to this time so we could get back to what we do best, which is take away passing lanes, take people out of their offense and use our defense to create offense." The Mountaineers forced 15 turnovers for 13 points in the first half and held Long Beach to 9-for-21 shooting. The 49ers committed 22 turnovers for 28 points in the game and were 9-for-21 in the second half. "We can't play like this," Monson said. "Whether we win or not, we cannot play like that. We did not handle adversity well at all and it was totally unacceptable the way we played." WVU 85, Long Beach State 62 West Virginia (3-0) Butler 4-7 4-4 13, Jones 5-9 0-0 10, Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Bryant 3-6 0-0 8, Mitchell 5-9 4-4 18, Thoroughman 0-0 0-0 0, West 3-6 2-2 11, Payne 1-1 0-0 2, Mazzulla 1-3 3-6 5, Jennings 3-5 2-2 8, Pepper 2-4 0-0 6, Flowers 2-5 0-0 4. Totals 29-56 15-18 85. LONG BEACH ST. (3-2) Phelps 3-4 1-1 7, Robinson 4-6 2-5 10, Anderson 0-3 5-8 5, Ware 0-2 8-12 8, Gilling 4-11 2-2 14, Plater 5-11 0-0 14, Chang 0-0 0-0 0, Vantrimpont 0-0 0-0 0, King 0-0 0-0 0, Woodard 2-5 0-0 4, Richardson 0-0 0-0 0, Fleming 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-43 18-28 62. Halftime-West Virginia 40-24. 3-Point Goals-West Virginia 12-24 (Mitchell 4-7, West 3-5, Bryant 2-2, Pepper 2-4, Butler 1-3, Smith 0-1, Jones 0-2), Long Beach St. 8-21 (Gilling 4-9, Plater 4-9, Anderson 0-1, Woodard 0-2). Fouled Out-Jennings, Smith. Rebounds-West Virginia 33 (Jones 9), Long Beach St. 25 (Robinson 9). Assists-West Virginia 20 (Jones 5), Long Beach St. 8 (Anderson 4). Total Fouls-West Virginia 26, Long Beach St. 19. A-NA. THE ASSOCIATED PRESS West Virginia guard Casey Mitchell (33) drives to the basket against Long Beach State in the 76 Classic in Anaheim, Calif., on Thursday. The Mountaineers won 85-62. WVU guard Jonnie West, left, drives against Long Beach State guard Greg Plater in the Classic. Contact sportswriter Mike Casazza at mikec@dailymail.com or 304-319- 1142. His blog is at blogs.dailymail.com/wvu.