The men’s basketball has been plagued all year by slow starts. Sometimes, they have been able to mount comeback, and other times they do not. They had yet another slow start at Cincinnati , finding themselves down 14-2 just over four minutes into the game, and spent most of the rest of the half trailing by a similar amount, with a 30-20 deficit. That margin grew to 14 points at the 16 minute mark. But over the next six minutes, WVU went on a 19-3 run, and took its first lead at 42-40 with just over 10 minutes remaining. From there, WVU was able to battle the Bearcats, and sealed things up in the last 2 minutes for a hard fought 59-54 win. Cincy had defended homecourt over Iowa State and Baylor this season, so a road win – even an ugly one – is still a good win in the Big 12.
Against a Top 15 Texas Tech squad, WVU once again found itself down by double digits at halftime. They kept battling and closed the gap in the second half, but fell 70-63. Overall, this wasn’t as bad of a performance as it might have looked if you only glanced at the score. The difference in the game really boiled down to two stats: free throws (once again), and three-point shooting. Texas Tech was 11/13 from the charity stripe, while WVU once again was abysmal, barely shooting 50% with 13/23. The key difference in the game, however, was three point shooting. Tech was a blistering 13/24 (54%), including 8/11 (73%) in the first half.
Meanwhile, WVU was a horrible 2/22 (9%), and they missed all eight attempts in the second half. That meant Texas Tech outscored WVU from long range by 39-6. There’s the ballgame for you.
After a great resume building win over Baylor, the women’s team followed that up with a good road win over a sneaky good Colorado team, 61-55. They aren’t ranked in the Top 25, but they are #41 in the Torvik women’s rankings (similar to KenPom rankings), and beating the #41 team on the road is very solid.
If they want to remain in contention to host opening round games in the NCAA tournament, WVU will absolutely need to take care of business against the lower ranked teams left on the schedule. That was the case when they played Arizona (who entered the game 2-9 in Big 12 play). And take care of business they did. The Wildcats did come out with plenty of fire and emotion, and actually held a lead in the opening minutes. But then WVU took control and pulled away. They outscored Arizona 27-9 in the second quarter and led 50-26 at halftime. They were never challenged in the second half and cruised to an 87-68 win.
The women have five regular season games left. Three of them (home and away against UCF, home against Cincy), should be double digit wins. The other two are a huge game at Top 15 TCU, which is followed up by a home game against Oklahoma State. They are #31 in the Torvik rankings and if WVU has a letdown after the TCU game, it could be an upset loss.
Believe it or not, baseball season is here. The Mountaineers have very high hopes for this year, and get started with a three game series this weekend at Georgia Southern. The Eagles were picked seventh in the preseason Sun Belt Conference poll. WVU, on the other hand, was tabbed third in the Big 12, behind TCU and Arizona. That is its highest preseason poll position in the Big 12. Both TCU and Arizona are showing up in preseason Top 25 polls (TCU typically around 10, and Arizona in the 21-25 range). I’ve only seen WVU in one Top 25 poll (#21 for Baseball America). But the Mountaineers should break into the polls with a good start to the season.
Last year, they won the Clemson Regional, and advanced to the Super Regional. This year, the goal is obviously to get at least that far. And they would definitely like to host a regional this year instead of going on the road. To do that, these early nonconference games will be important. They don’t necessarily have to win every game, but you will have to win series, and pull off sweeps multiple times, if the opponent is not a tournament caliber team.
(This also includes midweek games). This should be an exciting season for baseball, and hopefully they will be able to accomplish their goals.
The Gymnastics team had a meet schedule at Iowa State last Friday, but on Thursday, the Cyclones had to cancel, due to a lack of healthy competitors (it wasn’t made clear if the cause was injury, illness, or a combination of both). Apparently, WVU was at the Chicago airport already, and they were able to scramble to find an alternative. Northern Illinois was hosting Western Michigan already for a Friday night meet, and they were willing and able to welcome the Mountaineers for an impromptu Tri-meet. The result was a season high road score of 194.775, including a season high 49.225 on floor. A shout out to Northern Illinois, Western Michigan, and the WVU folks for getting things done to add the Mountaineers to the meet with late notice. They return to the Coliseum this Saturday for a 6:00pm dual meet against Arizona State.
Notes: The men’s game at UCF will be Saturday, Feb 14, with a 6:00pm start. It will be televised by FS1…The women have what should be a tune up game in Morgantown against UCF tonight (Wednesday Feb 11) at 7:00. It will be streamed on ESPN Plus… Their Top 20 showdown at TCU is set for Sunday Feb 15, with an 8:00pm tip. That will be televised by FS1…The golf team begins their spring season this weekend down in Gainesville, Florida. The field features three teams in the Top 12 (#5 Auburn, #10 Florida, #11 Oklahoma State), plus #22 Notre Dame.
