Senior Season
Ruoff began his senior campaign with 19 points, 6 steals, 4 assists, and 4 rebounds against Elon. Then against Longwood he scored 12 and grabbed 7 boards, and then scored 25 points and had 4 steals against Delaware State to open the Las Vegas Invitational Tournament. In the following round against Iowa, he scored 13 points and had 3 assists, and then in the loss to Kentucky he scored 10. As they beat Mississippi, Ruoff scored 16 and had 3 assists. In the next win over Cleveland State, Ruoff became the 45th Mountaineer to exceed 1,000 career points scored with his 5 points in the game. Ruoff missed the following two losses, however, with a shoulder injury sustained in the Cleveland State game.
Ruoff returned to action in the 82-46 victory over Miami University, totaling 15 points, 8 assists, 4 rebounds, and 3 steals. Ruoff broke WVU's school record for 3-point shots made in a game against Radford with 9, on his way to scoring a career high 38 points. In the 76-48 win over Ohio State, Ruoff had 17 points; followed by 18 points in a win over Seton Hall. In the loss to #1 UConn, he had 13 points and 7 rebounds. He then had 13 points and 8 assists in the loss to Marquette. Ruoff then had 15 points and 19 points against Marshall and USF, respectively. In the 75-58 win over Georgetown, he had 10 points and 9 assists. As the Mountaineers lost to Pittsburgh in the Backyard Brawl, Ruoff totaled 16 points. Following the loss, he totaled 17 points, 7 assists, and 6 rebounds in the victory over St. John's.
Ruoff then had 16 points in the 69-63 loss to Louisville. In the loss to Syracuse, he followed with 10 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds. Ruoff then had 24 points, 6 assists, and 5 rebounds in the win over Providence, reaching the 20-point mark for the first time in 11 games. In the next loss to Pittsburgh, he recorded 17 points. In the following 93-72 win over Villanova, he had 8 points. In the 79-68 win over Notre Dame, he had 24 points and 4 assists. Ruoff then had 12 points and 7 assists in the win over Rutgers. In the loss to Cincinnati he had 18 points and in the following win over South Florida he had 16 points. In the win over DePaul he then had 20 points with six 3-pointers, typing himself at first place on WVU's all-time 3-point field goals list with Kevin Pittsnogle. Ruoff was expected to easily break Pittsnogle's record against Louisville, but after his spending senior night scoreless and plagued by foul trouble, Ruoff could only hold his head in shame. In Ruoff's final regular season game as a Mountaineer, the 62-59 loss to #6 Louisville, Ruoff had 0 points and 6 turnovers - only playing 22 minutes due to 4 personal fouls.
In the second round matchup of the Big East Tournament against Notre Dame, Ruoff scored a team-high 25 points - breaking the school record for all-time 3-point shots made. In the quarterfinals round, a 74-60 victory over #2 Pittsburgh Panthers, Ruoff scored 18 points with 2 rebounds and assists. In the semifinals' 74-69 overtime loss to #20 Syracuse, Ruoff scored 9 points with 6 rebounds and 7 assists. Over the Tournament tenure, he averaged 17.3 points. However, the Mountaineers lost in the first round of the NCAA Tournament to Dayton, 68-60, with Ruoff scoring 9 points with 5 rebounds - only playing 24 minutes before fouling out.
Alex Ruoff ended his senior season with career-highs of 15.7 points per game, 3.4 assists per game, and 3.6 rebounds per game. Ruoff had season-highs of 38 points and 8 rebounds against Radford, and 9 assists against Georgetown. Ruoff was one of five players named to ESPN the Magazine's 2008-2009 Academic All-America First team along with being named the 2008-09 Big East Scholar Athlete of the Year. Ruoff was also named as an honorable mention selection to the All-Big East team and was named the Big East's 2008-09 recipient of the Sportsmanship Award.
Read more about this topic: Alex Ruoff, Collegiate Career
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