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CHESTNUT HILL, Massachusetts (Ticker) -- Craig Smith's inside presence kept Boston College among the ranks of the unbeaten.

A Big East Player of the Year candidate, Smith scored 23 points on 8-of-12 shooting to keep fifth-ranked Boston College undefeated with a 62-50 victory over conference rival West Virginia.

The Eagles (19-0, 8-0 Big East) matched a school record with their 19th consecutive win - equaling the mark of the 1968-69 team - and are just one of two Division I teams that have yet to lose. Top ranked Illinois improved to 22-0 with an 81-68 victory at Michigan State earlier Tuesday evening.

After trailing throughout the opening half, Boston College closed out the first on a 10-0 run, bookended by three-point plays from Smith and reserve Jermaine Watson to give the Eagles a 25-23 advantage at the half.

"I knew it was going to take a while," said Boston College coach Al Skinner of his team's slow start. "They give you a lot of different looks and it takes time to figure out. We can't emulate their stuff in practice and that's tough to prepare for."

Smith opened the second half by scoring the Eagles' first eight points, including a layup at 16:06 that gave the club the lead for good at 33-32. An offensive rebound and a layup by Smith with 4:30 remaining pushed the lead to 48-41.

"We made adjustments at halftime," Smith said. "We were looking to attack the basket more and get better shots than we were in the first half."

"He (Smith) gets his body so big in the paint and they react so quickly," Mountaineers coach John Beilein said.

Dudley scored 15 points and Watson added 13 for the Eagles, who have won seven of their last eight encounters against the Mountaineers.

With a win Saturday at Seton Hall, Boston College would become the first team in Big East history to start a season 20-0. But his team's recent fanfare hasn't concerned Skinner.

"Just like we weren't too upset when we weren't being talked about, we're not going to be overly happy when we are being talked about," he said. "We're really trying to keep our eyes on the prize."

West Virginia (12-7, 2-6) came out of the gates strong by scoring the first seven points of the contest, but the team was done in by a woeful 6-of-26 performance from the arc.

"Their defense was terrific," Beilein said. "(Skinner) changed his defense on us and we weren't ready for it. That's partly the coaches fault."

Skinner said the defensive switch was from his team's standard man-to-man defense to a 2-3 zone.

"It's basic to us," Skinner said when asked if it had any wrinkles. "We had to give them some different looks. We still switched in the second half but we played mostly zone."

Tyrone Sally and Mike Gansey scored 10 apiece for the Mountaineers, who have lost seven of their last nine after a 10-0 start.