The men’s basketball team was able to move into the rankings for the first time in a few years after its win at Kansas and big win over Oklahoma State. They checked in at #21 and #22 in the polls, but the stay might not be long.
They hosted Arizona, and the revenge-minded Wildcats jumped out to an early lead and were never really challenged, and left Morgantown with a 75-56 win. This reminded me of the Pitt game, where WVU never got untracked, and just had a poor game.
The team did bounce back, however, with a hard-fought 78-70 win over Colorado. WVU had a 14 point lead over the Buffs, but Colorado crept closer and closer, and got within 2 points on multiple occasions. But some key shots and free throws down the stretch (especially from Javon Small and Joseph Yesufu), helped WVU hold off Colorado, and the Mountaineers won their first ever meeting against the Buffaloes.
That is the second road win in the Big 12, which is more than the last three seasons combined. They stand 3-1 in the conference, and 12-3 overall. This, despite being short-handed. Against Colorado, Amani Hansberry played, but you can still tell he isn’t quite 100%. KJ Tenner has been out the last few games, and it is looking more and more likely that Tucker DeVries may be lost for the season. And while there are online rumors that Jayden Stone has been practicing again, he has yet to make his WVU debut. So WVU playing as well as they are without some key contributors is very impressive right now – but they need some of them to get healthy soon.
They have a brutal game tonight at Houston (8:00pm tip, ESPN Plus), which figures to be the toughest game left on the schedule, given the Cougars top 10 ranking and playing them on the road. Then they host the highest ranked team in the Big 12, Iowa State, this Saturday (5:00pm tip, ESPN Plus). The Cyclones are expected to arrive in Morgantown as the #2 team in the polls. Both teams feature extremely tough defenses (especially Houston), and good offenses (especially ISU). The big difference is tempo: Houston is one of the slowest teams in the nation, while Iowa State plays a bit faster than average.
The women’s team can’t figure out Oklahoma State. WVU has now lost three in a row to OSU, despite probably having a better team. WVU led a fair amount of their game out in Stillwater this weekend, but a poor third quarter (they were outscored 17-7) doomed them to a loss.
They will try to bounce back this week with a revenge game against Colorado (Wednesday, 7:00, ESPN Plus) and a big one this weekend against Iowa State and the Big 12’s leading scorer Audi Crooks (Sunday, 1:00, FOX).
Notes: Jerry West will be honored at the Iowa State games this weekend (both men’s and women’s)…The men’s team stayed in the coaches’ poll at #25…WVU football is busy restocking their roster. They have added double-digit players from the transfer portal in the last week alone.
