That’s a self-explanatory box score, with a few fun features. West Virginia played small. Brandon Watkins and Elijah Macon didn’t play much, and Sagaba Konate is the most mobile of the three bigs and played more than the other two combined.

Despite going small, the Mountaineers, who downsized to match up with and better guard Iowa State, won the rebounding battle. The press was all right — and the half-court defense was so bad in the first half — but WVU wound up with a 34-18 scoring advantage in the paint and a 23-6 edge in points off turnovers. They banked in shots but they also made free throws, and the Mountaineers showed their backup plan, which was probably their primary plan going in, was good enough to win at Hilton.

And it all happened with WVU ranked No. 7!

The Mountaineers built and preserved a large lead and made meaningful free throws to win their first game in three tries after ascending to No. 7 with an 85-72 triumph against Iowa State before 14,384 Tuesday at Hilton Coliseum.

“That was something we talked about on the way here,” guard Tarik Phillip said. “We made a joke about it. ‘Yeah, they probably gave us No. 7 again so we’ll lose again.’”

Twice already this season, WVU jumped to No. 7 and lost its next game, first at Texas Tech and then at home against Oklahoma. Both games went to overtime, but the Mountaineers made sure extra time wasn’t needed against the Cyclones. They led by four at halftime and by 16 in the second half and made nine straight foul shots and 11 of 12 overall while the Cyclone considered hanging around in the final 4:26 .

“It’s something we’ve been focusing on after the last couple games,” forward Nathan Adrian said. “We gave up a couple leads in the last couple minutes, so we made a point to play hard and not let them come back on us.” Adrian had a career-high 23 points and 11 rebounds and Phillip added 15. Both were 2 for 3 from 3-point range. Esa Ahmad added 12 points, Dax Miles had nine and Teyvon Myers and Beetle Bolden both had eight.

WVU shot 29 for 60 from the floor, 10 for 21 from 3-point range and 17 for 20 at the foul line.

The first half was not easy. Bob Huggins was losing patience rapidly as another big lead disappeared, but he got a boost from his bench … and didn’t use any of those players in the second half. The offense was very good in the first half and the defense was not, but the defense was effective in the second half while the offense was good enough. Iowa State missed 15 of its final 20 shots. At home. The Cyclones seemed spent at the end, try as they might to deny it.

I don’t know that that’s a NCAA tournament team, and with Monte Morris, Naz Mitrou-Long, Deonte Burtn and Matt Thomas all in their senior seasons, Steve Prohm had better be a skilled recruiter.

The Mountaineers? Definitely a NCAA tournament team and one with some momentum now as they come home to play host to Oklahoma State. If you want an explanation that makes the most sense from Tuesday, consider this: Morris and Mitrou-Long didn’t have it. Jevon Carter and Dax Miles didn’t have it. WVU had enough in reserve to win the game going away.

In the end, Huggins said WVU did what it set out to do.