West Virginia’s only scheduled matchup with Baylor this season comes at a time when the Mountaineers haven’t produced many favorable results of late, but could benefit greatly from what would undoubtedly be a quality road win against a team it trails by one game in the Big 12 Conference standings.
The Mountaineers (15-9, 6-7) battle the Bears (15-9, 7-6) at 2 p.m. Saturday from Foster Pavilion.
WVU is coming off a 73-69 home loss to BYU on Tuesday, the Mountaineers’ fifth setback in seven games since a win over then-No. 2 Iowa State.
Baylor also enters off a loss, having been upended one night earlier 76-65 at Houston despite shooting better than 57 percent (22 for 38) against the top scoring defense in college basketball.
“They’re very talented. They have so many guys that can shoot it and they put a lot of pressure on the rim really from everywhere,” West Virginia head coach Darian DeVries said. “They create some challenges from that standpoint.”
The Bears have been far better at home, having won 11 of 12 games at Foster Pavilion as opposed to a 2-7 road record.
DeVries attributed at least part of BU’s inconsistent play throughout the season to an ever-changing rotation, with key rotation pieces VJ Edgecombe, Jeremy Roach, Langston Love and Jalen Celestine all having missed multiple games, while Love has appeared in only 10. As all four are now playing together, the Bears suffered a tough blow last weekend when 6-foot-10 Josh Ojianwuna suffered a season-ending injury.
The Bears are the fifth-highest scoring Big 12 team with an average of 79.3 points.
DeVries believes his team will need to be at its best defensively, which the Mountaineers were nowhere near during the second of their most recent outing when the Cougars shot 15 for 27 after halftime and closed on a 17-7 run to prevail.
“If you let them get into the paint, now they’re at the rim and they’re kicking out for threes,” DeVries said. “It’s easier said than done, because they’re so gifted as individual players at getting by you. Our challenge is we’re going to have to be really connected as a team defense.”
While WVU ranks 15th among Big 12 teams in scoring at 69.4 points on average and second in scoring defense by surrendering 64, WVU’s first-year head coach believes the latter has been more problematic for the Mountaineers of late.
“In the games we’ve lost, it’s been our defense that has let us down,” DeVries said. “That’s how we are going to win — when our defense is really solid and disciplined. The other night against BYU, that’s why we lost the game. We allowed them to shoot 55 percent in the second half. Well you’re not winning those games. We actually played good offense. We shot 55 percent in the second half. But defensively, we just made too many mistakes and we don’t have that a big margin for error to allow that to happen.”
Four Bears average double-figure scoring led by Norchad Omier’s 15.7 average. The 6-7 Omier leads the Big 12 in rebounding at 10.3 boards as well.
“He’s relentless. We actually played him two years ago in the NCAA Tournament when he was with Miami,” DeVries said. “So we got to see him up close and personal. I know exactly what he’s capable of. He’s one of those guys that has a great knack for going and getting the ball. He’s a physical guy. He’s someone that you have to put a body on and keep him as far away from that basket as possible.”
Edgecombe, a 6-5 guard, is the Big 12’s top freshman scorer with an average of 15 points.
“He’s playing terrific. In Big 12 play, he’s shooting 46 percent from three,” DeVries said. “When you watch the film, his speed stands out, too, especially in the open floor. It’s impressive. When you have a guy like that and he can put it on the ground and get it to the rim and also shoot threes at that high of a clip, that’s a tough matchup. There’s a reason he’s so highly thought of on NBA draft boards. It certainly shows up on tape.”
Robert O. Wright III (12.6), Roach (11.4), Jayden Nunn (9.2), Love (8.3) and Celestine (7.9) are also primary offensive options on a team not short on them.
While WVU guard Javon Small averages 18.5 points to rank second in the Big 12, he has 23 points on nine field-goal attempts over the last two games. Small, a 6-3 guard, is receiving more than his fair share of attention from opposing defenses and has upped his assist totals as a result, having dished out 17 over the last two contests and 33 in the last four.
“At times, there’s only so much you can do,” DeVries said. “If you want to commit two people to him all the time, you have to take what they’ll give you. And Javon has did that. He’s had nine assists and eight assists the last two games. The BYU game was as good as our offense has been. We scored almost 70 points, shot 55 percent in the second half, so I thought Javon did a great job of if you’re going to face guard me and do these type of things, it created a lot of opportunities for our other guys. If defenses want to do it, we have to take what they give us and he’s done a good job of that.”
WVU does not have a second double-figure scorer, though forward Amani Hansberry (9.5), swingman Jonathan Powell (8.6) and forward Toby Okani (8.5) aren’t far off.
Ahead of Friday’s action, Baylor had a NET ranking of 26 while the Mountaineers were at 43.
A victory Saturday would be a big lift to DeVries’ team, which has gone 11 straight games without consecutive wins.
“Our message to them is it’s February and we’re playing for something,” DeVries said. “There’s a lot of teams that aren’t right now. They just have the conference tournament left to try to get there, but that’s not the case with us.
“But we have to do our part and we have to go win games. They understand that and we understand that as a staff. None of it really matters right now. The thing that does matter is you have to find ways to continue to get wins. That’s our primary focus and the game-by-game mentality of our next opportunity is at Baylor. What do we have to do to try to go win that game?”
