Hall of Fame coach Bob Huggins tied Jim Calhoun for third place on the NCAA Division I men's basketball wins list with his 920th victory following tonight's 92-58 triumph over Penn at the WVU Coliseum.
The Ivy League preseason favorite was making its first WVU Coliseum appearance since the 1981 National Invitation Tournament.
West Virginia used some torrid outside shooting to build a 52-31 halftime lead. Guard Erik Stevenson made his first eight shots and finished the game 8-of-9 from the floor to tally a game-best 21 points. The senior hit all four of his 3-point tries.
"Erik had a really good day shooting the ball," Huggins said. "He got the kind of shots he's really good at making."
Tre Mitchell scored all 11 of his points in the first half while Kedrian Johnson and Joe Toussaint also chipped in with 11 each.
West Virginia (4-0) was 30-of-54 from the floor for 55.6% and 12-of-23 from 3-point distance for 52.2%.
"We had the right guys shooting it and that helps," Huggins said. "We didn't shoot it as well when James (Okonkwo) was shooting it from the corner as when Tre was shooting them from the corner. That's the key thing getting the right guys shooting the ball."
WVU forced Penn into committing 18 turnovers resulting in 21 points. West Virginia's bench outscored the Quakers' 36 to 13.
The Mountaineers' largest lead was 34 points with 14 seconds remaining. Every player who dressed got into tonight's game and everyone got into the scoring column. During one play midway through the second half, a hustling Mohamed Wague dove on the floor for a loose basketball with West Virginia leading by 24 points and showed its appreciation with a loud ovation.
Huggins was also clapping from the Mountaineer bench.
West Virginia's two point guards Kedrian Johnson and Joe Toussaint combined for eight assists and no turnovers tonight.
"I think they're starting to realize how important it is and starting to realize how important they can be in what we do," Huggins said. "It's going to be a continual climb and it's going to get harder and harder, and we've got to get better and better."
The only negative stat for West Virginia was Penn's 38 to 29 advantage on the glass.
"We've got to put the whole thing together," Huggins said. "When we think about what we have from here on we can't play in spurts like we did tonight."
Penn (1-4) was playing tonight's game without 19.8 points-per-game scorer Jordan Dingle, who suffered a leg injury earlier this week in the Quakers' victory at Drexel.
Guard Clark Slajchert led Penn with 20 points on 7-of-17 shooting. Forward Max Martz chipped in with 10. The Quakers shot only 35% from the floor including 29.2% from 3.
Tonight's announced attendance was 9,875.
West Virginia will now turn its attention the Phil Knight Legacy Tournament in Portland, Oregon, next week. The Mountaineers will face Purdue at 10 p.m. ET on Thanksgiving night and depending upon how that goes, they could face second-ranked Gonzaga on Friday.
The tournament will conclude on Sunday. All of the games will be televised on the ESPN family of networks.