Baylor @ West Virginia preview
WVU Coliseum
Last Meeting ( Feb 27, 2017 ) West Virginia 62, Baylor 71
Entering the week with 14 straight wins and a sparkling-new No. 2 national ranking, West Virginia is the hottest team in the nation’s top-ranked conference. The Mountaineers also are in the midst of a rugged scheduling stretch which continues Tuesday with a home game against Baylor.
On Saturday, West Virginia garnered national headlines by cooling off red-hot guard Trae Young, who entered the game leading the nation in scoring and assists, in an 89-76 home win over No. 7 Oklahoma. Senior guard and team scoring leader Jevon Carter had 16 points and did most of the defensive pestering of Young – who finished with a game-high 29 points but hit only 8-of-22 shots, including 3-of-12 3-pointers, and finished with a season-high eight turnovers – and was joined in double figures by teammates Teddy Allen (20 points), Lamont West (17) and Sagaba Konate (16). On the season, West Virginia has six players averaging at least 9.1 points per game while a slightly different six are averaging 3.4 rebounds or more per outing. “It hasn’t been all JC (Jevon Carter),” Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins said Saturday in his post-game news conference. “Dax (Daxter Miles Jr.), Teddy (Allen) has his moments, Beetle (guard James Bolden) has had moments. … It’s like a golf scramble. Everyone doesn’t have to hit a good shot – just somebody – and that’s kind of what has happened to us. Someone always steps up and makes plays.”
TV: 7 p.m. ET, ESPN2
ABOUT BAYLOR (11-4, 1-2 Big 12): The Bears had been ranked up until last week’s poll but had lost their first two conference games prior to Saturday’s 69-60 home win over Texas. Senior guard Manu Lecomte is pacing five double-digit scorers with 16.8 points per outing, but has struggled in Big 12 play, averaging 11 points on 25-percent shooting, including 4-of-18 from 3-point range. Fellow senior Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. (16.1 points), Terry Matson (10.4), Nuni Omot (10.4) and King McClure (10.3) also are averaging double figures while the 7-foot Lual-Acuil Jr. (9.8 rebounds) and Matson (7.0) are the team’s leaders on the glass.
ABOUT WEST VIRGINIA (14-1, 3-0): The Mountaineers haven’t lost since a season-opening 88-65 defeat to Texas A&M at Ramstein Air Base in Germany. Since then, they’ve won all six of their road/neutral-site games and have gone 8-0 at home, where they’ve won by an average of 34.2 points, including victories over top-10 foes Oklahoma and Virginia (68-61 on Dec. 5). Carter (16.7 points), Miles Jr. (13.9), West (12.9) and Bolden (10.5) are all averaging double figures while the 6-foot-8 Konate (7.2 boards), Carter (5.7) and West (5.4) are the leading rebounders.
TIP-INS
1. Baylor has won eight of the 12 meetings – all since 2011 – but West Virginia has won three of the last four, including an 89-68 home victory over the then-top-ranked Bears on Jan. 10, 2017.
2. The Bears will have to be very wary of taking care of the ball as the Mountaineers and their pressing defense are pacing the Big 12 and rank second nationally with a plus-8.3 average turnover margin while Baylor is last in the league and ranks 299th nationally at minus-2.0.
3. West Virginia’s shortcomings have been few, but it does rank next to last in the Big 12 in 3-point shooting at 32.7 percent.
PREDICTION: West Virginia 78, Baylor 70