ADVERTISEMENT

WVSPORTS.COM Observations: West Virginia basketball vs. Oklahoma State

Keenan Cummings

Fact Based and Wonderful
Staff
Sep 16, 2007
111,847
243,746
688
39
–Well this was certainly a tale of two halves for West Virginia as once again the Mountaineers looked very impressive in the first and struggled quite a bit in the second. West Virginia raced out to a 46-19 lead at halftime, but dealt with a 6:22 second scoring drought in the second half that allowed the game to get as close as 13-points but the Mountaineers were able to do enough to pull away and get the win. A lot of the players on the floor are playing a lot of minutes right now so that could certainly be adding up but it’s going to be hard for this team to win many Big 12 games if they continue to go through these droughts where they simply can’t get anything going offensively. Still, the defense was impressive yet again for West Virginia as they made things very difficult for Oklahoma State.

–Speaking of defense, West Virginia has been lights out in the first half of the past two games. Oklahoma State was held to 19 points, 7-28 (25.) from the field, 2-12 (16.7) from three, forced 10 turnovers and just .543 points per possession. That is coming off a performance against Kansas where West Virginia held them to just 20 points, 7-24 (29.2) from the field, 2-7 (28.6) from three, forced five turnovers and were at just .690 points per possession. The Mountaineers again were able to turn Oklahoma State over and get them out of what they wanted to do. They turned them over and were able to capitalize off of it in order to build a big early lead in this game.

–Overall in this one the Cowboys shot just 33-percent from the field and 14-percent from three, while they turned the ball over 17 times which led to 20 points for West Virginia.

–Senior guard Javon Small has such good control of the pace but at times I felt at times he tried to do a little too much in this one largely because he has to with his usage. It’s hard to complain about anything he does because he is the engine of this team but he is getting so much attention when he has the ball and teams are trying to get it out of his hands. He is athletic and understands how to position himself He had 6 turnovers, but it’s nitpicking. Small also finished with 24 points, 11 rebounds and 4 assists and played 36 minutes. He’s been the engine of this team.

–West Virginia won the rebounding edge 40-38 and the offensive rebounds were each 12. Anytime this team is able to compete on the glass it’s a positive. Especially when the Mountaineers turned that into 19 second chance points.

–Free throw shooting wasn’t a strong suit in this one, just 11-20. This one didn't hurt them as much with the early lead but that can’t be the norm.

–Jonathan Powell had the technical, but hit some major shots in this game with 17 points on 6-10 shooting and 5-7 from three. He continues to take really good shots and I seriously don’t think he’s taken one all year where he is off-balance or out of rhythm.

–Sencire Harris hit not just one, but two threes! He came into the game 0-26 from deep and was just 2-6 overall, but still it had to feel good for him to see a few go down. That isn’t going to be his game this year, but he was aggressive on offense and had a total of 9 points on 3-10 shooting. Also on the defensive end he is just a menace and really makes it hard for teams. He was +26 on the floor.

–Eduardo Andre had 7 points, 10 rebounds, 4 assists, a block and a steal. He has created issues for teams on both ends of the floor and getting back Amani Hansberry gives this team a real one-two punch. Hansberry played 17 minutes and scored 6 points in this one in his return.

–Toby Okani does a lot of little things for this team. But he also made some tough shots in this one when his team needed him. Okani rebounds, plays defense and gives this team a versatile option.

–Next up is Arizona and while West Virginia has beaten them once already this will obviously be a different game with the lineup changes. Still, at 11-2 overall and 2-0 in the Big 12 this team has gotten a great start and every win matters at this stage.
 
ADVERTISEMENT

Latest posts

ADVERTISEMENT

Go Big.
Get Premium.

Join Rivals to access this premium section.

  • Say your piece in exclusive fan communities.
  • Unlock Premium news from the largest network of experts.
  • Dominate with stats, athlete data, Rivals250 rankings, and more.
Log in or subscribe today Go Back