Bears Too Much for WVU
February 28, 2015 06:28 PM | General
Taurean Prince scored 20 points off the bench to lead 19th-ranked Baylor to a 78-66 victory over 20th-ranked West Virginia in a Saturday afternoon Big 12 game at the Ferrell Center in Waco, Texas.
West Virginia (22-7, 10-6), already down starting point guard Juwan Staten, who was a pregame scratch because of knee and groin injuries, lost Gary Browne three minutes into the game with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Baylor forward Rico Gathers rolled Browne’s ankle diving for a loose basketball and Browne spent the rest of the game on the bench with a big bag of ice on his ankle.
"Losing Gary was hard because you have to be able to make some adjustments during the course of the game and our freshmen were trying," said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. "We had those freshmen in there and they haven't been in there with the ball. They've had the comfort of having two seniors pretty much all of the time with them on the floor so that hurt us."
The injuries to Staten and Browne meant West Virginia played the majority of the game with two freshmen in the backcourt – Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr. – and both performed well under the circumstances.
Carter made 7 of 13 from 3-point distance and finished with a career-high 25 points while Miles contributed 11. Those two made all eight 3s for the Mountaineers, which finished the game going 8-of-24 from behind the arc.
Just as it did in Morgantown earlier this month, Baylor jumped out to a big early lead and kept its margin in double digits throughout.
"I thought we came out and didn't have the fire that we've had," said Huggins. "Our pressure was on-existent because we didn't have that fire."
Royce O’Neale scored 18, Gathers contributed 17 points and 10 rebounds while Al Freeman added 10 points off the bench.
Baylor (22-7, 10-6) shot 51.1 percent for the game, including 8-of-15 from 3, had five fewer turnovers than the Mountaineers (13 to 8) and was plus-21 in free throw attempts.
West Virginia did out-rebound the Bears 40-31, and had 21 assists on its 25 made shots.
"They shoot it way better than we do; they pass it way better than we do so we have to play way harder than they do and today we didn't," said Huggins.
Today’s loss snaps West Virginia’s three-game winning streak.
An announced crowd of 9,385 watched today’s game.
Baylor’s win today moves the Bears into a three-way tie with West Virginia and Iowa State for third place in the league standings at 10-6, while Oklahoma’s victory over TCU earlier today moves the Sooners into sole possession of second place at 11-5.
First-place Kansas is playing Texas in Lawrence today.
If the season were to end today West Virginia would finish fifth because Baylor and Iowa State own the tiebreakers over the Mountaineers.
West Virginia remains on the road to play at Kansas on Tuesday night before concluding the regular season in Morgantown on Saturday against Oklahoma State. That game has already been announced a sellout.
Andrew Powdrell | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Pat Kirkland | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 15
Thursday, April 16
Alumni Series | Louisa Morgan Hoogduin
Wednesday, April 15
