MORGANTOWN — This was one WVU had to have.
Not just to extend a winning streak inside the Hope Coliseum. Not just to continue to inch its way up college basketball’s metrics with the hope of being in the conversation for the NCAA tournament come March.
And certainly not just to be able to say, ‘Hey, we’re 6-3 at the halfway point in the big, bad Big 12,” which is what the Mountaineers would have been if they hadn’t come out on the short end of a 63-53 loss against Baylor on Saturday.
WVU needed this win for all of that combined and so much more.
Baylor, even with two projected first-round NBA picks in guards Cameron Moore (16 points, 12 rebounds) and Tounde Yessoufou (11 points) in its lineup, was struggling this season unlike anything ever seen under Scott Drew.
Baylor’s lone conference win – before Saturday – was against Oklahoma State. The Bears – before Saturday – had led at halftime just one time in a conference game this season.
You know Drew is going to have this program headed back in the right direction, just because that’s how good of a coach he is. So, this was an absolute terrific opportunity to stomp on the Bears and move on.
“I thought our urgency defensively to start the game wasn’t at the level it needed to be,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “Then, you start letting them get into a rhythm and start making threes.”
Nothing can be taken for granted in this game, that’s been proven time and again, but the conversation today was supposed to be positive. WVU had already taken its lumps against the best in the league and then dished out a few of its own in a win against Kansas.
The next two months were supposed to be about hypothetical scenarios, what-ifs and just maybes. The Iowa States, Houstons and Arizonas of the Big 12 are well in the rear-view mirror of WVU’s schedule. You never have to think about those opponents again, outside of a chance encounter in Kansas City, Mo. in the Big 12 tournament.
On the horizon is No. 11 Texas Tech and No. 13 BYU, and both of those games are in Morgantown. Get a few good bounces, a few shots to go in, get the home crowd fired up and who knows, right?
Two games remain against improving UCF. One of them is in Orlando, Fla. on Valentines Day, which I’m told the state of Florida can be a terrific place to hang out for a couple of days when you’re buried in three feet of snow everywhere you look in West Virginia.
There’s a game still to come against Jamie Dixon and TCU. There’s no other opposing coach in the world WVU fans love to beat than Dixon.
These last two months were supposed to be happy thoughts. You can pretty much forget that now.
In its place is what’s going on with leading scorer Honor Huff? He was 1 of 13 shooting against Baylor and finished with five points. He hasn’t shot 50% or better in a game since Jan. 6.
And what is going with WVU’s offense as a whole? The Mountaineers have consistently been near the bottom of the Big 12 – they are officially dead last right now – in scoring this season, but they’ve gone three consecutive games now without reaching 60 points.
Two of those games – Kansas State and Baylor – have come against teams who are allowing more than 75 points per game.
“We finally defended at a level where we could win a tough game like this,” Drew said. “I think everyone was locked in and did a great job following the game plan, for the most part.”
Maybe that’s what happened or maybe WVU’s shooters are just terribly off. WVU missed nine lay-ups … and a dunk attempt against the Bears.
If this season is suddenly going to head south, and we’re not exactly ready to say that it is, that eight-minute stretch in the second half in which WVU went scoreless will be the lowlight of the season.
WVU had just clawed back into the game and was down 47-44. It took seven minutes and 39 seconds for the Mountaineers to reach 46 points.
Outside of trying to sneak a sixth player into the game, WVU tried everything during that stretch.
“I think we tried quite a few,” said WVU forward Brenen Lorient, who led WVU with 19 points. “(Hodge) really watches who is out there and who has something going at the moment. That’s probably why you saw a fluctuation and so many different plays.”
Under the current state of affairs, that road trip to Cincinnati looks quite challenging on Thursday, and then, oh boy, here comes J.T. Toppin and Texas Tech, then UCF. That home game against Utah (Feb. 18) can’t get here soon enough.
It’s amazing how just one game can change the outlook of a basketball program. Hey, that’s life in the Big 12, and that’s exactly what happened against Baylor.
Hodge’s message to his team following the game: “His overall message was we’re not great, we’re not terrible. We just have some things we need to clean up. Take care of the ball more, rebound better. We just have to get better these next couple of stretches before the season is over.”
