BUFFALO, N.Y. -- West Virginia is pressing on in the NCAA Tournament.
The No. 4 seed Mountaineers dictated tempo with their full-court pressure defense and were efficient at the offensive end in defeating fifth-seeded Notre Dame 83-71 in a second-round game on Saturday at KeyBank Center.
With the victory, West Virginia (28-8) advanced to the Sweet 16 for the seventh time in 11 years and will face the winner of Saturday's game between No. 1 seed Gonzaga and eighth-seeded Northwestern at the West regional in San Jose, Calif.
Jevon Carter led the Mountaineers with 24 points, matching a season high. Daxter Miles Jr. (18 points), Tarik Phillips (12 points off the bench) and Carter combined for 54 of West Virginia's 83 points on 17-of-29 shooting.
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"All year we've been telling ourselves that we got the best group of guards in the country and we truly believe that," Carter said. "So, when it's time for us to play, we got out there and give it our all."
West Virginia shot a season-best 57 percent (8 of 14) on 3-pointers and 50 percent overall. The Mountaineers also hit 81 percent (21 of 26) at the foul line.
"I didn't expect them to shoot it from outside as well," Notre Dame coach Mike Brey said. "I thought we could play a little more zone and make them make more threes, and they made every big 3-point shot.
"And Carter is a big-time winner. What a stud guard he is. He's fabulous. He's just a veteran winner in college basketball."
Notre Dame, the only team to reach the Elite Eight round of the last two NCAA tournaments, finished the season at 26-10.
Bonzie Colson led the Irish with 27 points and eight rebounds. Colson made a career-high four 3-pointers. Leading scorer V.J. Beachem struggled, hitting only 2 of 14 shots including 1 of 9 long range, to score nine points. Steve Vasturia added 11.
West Virginia opened the game with a 10-0 run, holding Notre Dame scoreless over the first 3:35, and led by as many 11 twice before going into halftime up 42-35.
"I thought our start really hurt us," Brey said. "We were in a 10-0 hole, you're kind of digging out against them the whole day. It was hard to get over it. Their style of play is hard to deal with. It wore on us at times."
The Irish struggled with the Mountaineers' full-court pressure early, committing 10 of their 14 turnovers in the first half. Notre Dame entered the game with the nation's lowest turnover rate, but had as many turnovers in the first 12 minutes (six) as it had in the entire first-round victory over Princeton.
"We just wanted to wear them down," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "We wanted to make them work really hard at advancing the ball."
West Virginia preserved its lead in the second half by shooting 58 percent from the field and overcame a run of turnovers during a seven-minute field-goal drought.
The closest Notre Dame got in the second half was within four points on three occasions.
"We hadn't been in one of those where we were digging out of a hole and trying to come back," Brey said.
NOTES:
-- West Virginia set a school record for most points in a season (2,956), surpassing the 1959 Final Four team led by Hall of Famer Jerry West.
-- Notre Dame went 17 of 17 at the free-throw line, the second-best mark in an NCAA sub-regional (Kentucky shot 18 of 18 in 2003).
-- The Mountaineers are 4-0 all-time in NCAA Tournament games in Buffalo. The 2010 team won twice here on its way to the Final Four.
-- This was the first meeting between Notre Dame and West Virginia since 2012, when both were members of the Big East.
-- Notre Dame has never won its first two games in three consecutive NCAA Tournament appearances.
