--You’ve now truly seen everything this season with this Mountaineers basketball team. West Virginia was down one point with 2:01 left and got a technical foul for having six players on the floor. That allowed the Bears to expand the lead to two and then take advantage of some poor execution to seal things up. The Bears used a 10-0 run to push the lead out to 76-70 and the Mountaineers couldn’t make up the difference down the stretch. They finished the game on a 16-5 run over the final 2:45. West Virginia is now 10-17, 2-12 in the league and basically is playing for pride and development over these next four games outside of a possible run in the conference tournament which is unlikely at best.
--On the positive side of things, this team had some issues at times but competed hard from the start. There is nobody that could have predicted that the same West Virginia team that was handled at home down five scholarship players would have a chance to win this game in the final minutes. No, you don’t get credit for almost winning games or competing but it’s still a positive that the group did just that.
--West Virginia shot 43-perent from the floor, the best mark since the Tennessee game, that’s a span of six games and a sign of how poor things have been in that department.
--This was the masterpiece game to date for West Virginia forward Andrew Gordon. He scored a career high 13 points after scoring a total of 12 over the last 12 games combined. He made 7-9 from the foul line and some big shots as he made the most of his time on the floor today. Gordon was a net of +8.5 points in this game and that’s a sign of how effective he was with the highest mark on the team.
--Freshman point guard Jordan McCabe really seems to be coming into his own both with his confidence as well his command on the floor. He finished this game with 14 points and perhaps more importantly four assists and only one turnover. Same can be said for Jermaine Haley who scored 13 points grabbed 7 rebounds and had five assists with zero (!) turnovers. That’s nine assists to one turnovers from that spot on the floor and made a huge difference. For a team, West Virginia only had 11 turnovers.
--Since the dismissals of Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris, redshirt junior Lamont West has scored in double figures each game with 11, 16 and 16 points. He had scored under double figures in seven of eight before that and really had been struggling so at least that has been a positive. He is providing a scoring threat that West Virginia desperately needs at this point of the season although he didn’t shoot the ball well today. He had been 9-19 over the last two but was 4-14 today and missed some good looks which hurts but that’s part of the game.
--It wasn’t a good game for freshman Derek Culer as he managed 9 points on 2-9 from the floor with six turnovers before he fouled out. Culver continued to struggle with double teams being thrown his way and at times seemed to just fling the ball at the basket in those situations. He is still learning and has so much upside but you’re going to have these type of days sometimes and this was one for Culver. He was in foul trouble a lot and really struggled to find a rhythm.
--West Virginia got 6 points from Logan Routt as well, he had scored a total of 11 since Big 12 Conference play began.
--Positives? West Virginia got to the foul line 34 times. Negatives? They missed 11.
--At this point it’s pretty telling that even walk-on Taevon Horton is getting more minutes (4) than Trey Doomes (1) mostly at the end. He continues to be behind but at this stage it’s fair to wonder why Huggins pulled his redshirt if he isn’t going to even play him in these situations.
--The Mountaineers were 5-6 on layups or dunks, Baylor was 9-10 on those attempts.
--Baylor guard Makai Mason had zero field goals. He was 0-7 from the field which is much different than during his trip to Morgantown where he made 10-16 and scored 29 points.
--West Virginia led the game for 29 minute but obviously the only thing that matters is leading at the end and they couldn’t get it done there. The Mountaineers allowed 11 offensive rebounds in this one which resulted in 19 second chance points. That can’t happen if you want to win these games.
--On the positive side of things, this team had some issues at times but competed hard from the start. There is nobody that could have predicted that the same West Virginia team that was handled at home down five scholarship players would have a chance to win this game in the final minutes. No, you don’t get credit for almost winning games or competing but it’s still a positive that the group did just that.
--West Virginia shot 43-perent from the floor, the best mark since the Tennessee game, that’s a span of six games and a sign of how poor things have been in that department.
--This was the masterpiece game to date for West Virginia forward Andrew Gordon. He scored a career high 13 points after scoring a total of 12 over the last 12 games combined. He made 7-9 from the foul line and some big shots as he made the most of his time on the floor today. Gordon was a net of +8.5 points in this game and that’s a sign of how effective he was with the highest mark on the team.
--Freshman point guard Jordan McCabe really seems to be coming into his own both with his confidence as well his command on the floor. He finished this game with 14 points and perhaps more importantly four assists and only one turnover. Same can be said for Jermaine Haley who scored 13 points grabbed 7 rebounds and had five assists with zero (!) turnovers. That’s nine assists to one turnovers from that spot on the floor and made a huge difference. For a team, West Virginia only had 11 turnovers.
--Since the dismissals of Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris, redshirt junior Lamont West has scored in double figures each game with 11, 16 and 16 points. He had scored under double figures in seven of eight before that and really had been struggling so at least that has been a positive. He is providing a scoring threat that West Virginia desperately needs at this point of the season although he didn’t shoot the ball well today. He had been 9-19 over the last two but was 4-14 today and missed some good looks which hurts but that’s part of the game.
--It wasn’t a good game for freshman Derek Culer as he managed 9 points on 2-9 from the floor with six turnovers before he fouled out. Culver continued to struggle with double teams being thrown his way and at times seemed to just fling the ball at the basket in those situations. He is still learning and has so much upside but you’re going to have these type of days sometimes and this was one for Culver. He was in foul trouble a lot and really struggled to find a rhythm.
--West Virginia got 6 points from Logan Routt as well, he had scored a total of 11 since Big 12 Conference play began.
--Positives? West Virginia got to the foul line 34 times. Negatives? They missed 11.
--At this point it’s pretty telling that even walk-on Taevon Horton is getting more minutes (4) than Trey Doomes (1) mostly at the end. He continues to be behind but at this stage it’s fair to wonder why Huggins pulled his redshirt if he isn’t going to even play him in these situations.
--The Mountaineers were 5-6 on layups or dunks, Baylor was 9-10 on those attempts.
--Baylor guard Makai Mason had zero field goals. He was 0-7 from the field which is much different than during his trip to Morgantown where he made 10-16 and scored 29 points.
--West Virginia led the game for 29 minute but obviously the only thing that matters is leading at the end and they couldn’t get it done there. The Mountaineers allowed 11 offensive rebounds in this one which resulted in 19 second chance points. That can’t happen if you want to win these games.
