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Another Top 15 Matchup in Morgantown on Saturday
February 05, 2016 03:30 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Following Tuesday night’s victory at Iowa State, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins cited a story written in the local newspaper about his team’s poor performance at Florida as one of the motivating factors for his players against the Cyclones.
Well, Huggs, here is some more ammo to put in your guys’ lockers ahead of Saturday night’s game against 15th-ranked Baylor.
The first story line on page one of Baylor’s game notes lists the Bears’ all-time record against West Virginia: 7-1, including four straight wins over the Mountaineers.
On the second line is this little nugget: Baylor is the only team to win in Morgantown in each of the last 3 seasons.
And this … Baylor went 3-0 against WVU last year, winning all three games by double-digits. It was the third time BU beat a Big 12 opponent 3 times in a season (2010 vs. Texas and 2014 vs. TCU).
Those last two notes are probably worth writing down and underlining. Baylor (17-5, 6-3) has certainly had its way with West Virginia, the Bears the one team the Mountaineers have really had trouble handling since joining the Big 12 in 2012.
“I think for the most part they have been pretty close games,” said Huggins. “We go to Waco last year and (guard) Gary (Browne) gets hurt in the first couple of minutes and Wanny (guard Juwan Staten) didn’t play at all. Neither one of them played in the conference tournament and it’s a one-point game inside of four minutes and we decide to start throwing the ball to them for whatever reason. It’s the same thing, if we take care of the ball and if we rebound the ball we’re going to have a chance.”
Junior forward Devin Williams was on the floor for all three losses to Baylor last season, an 18-point defeat at home, a 12-point verdict at Waco three weeks later and an 80-70 decision in last year’s Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.
“They had some veterans last year that really helped them,” said Williams, who is coming off a 17-point, 18-rebound night at Iowa State. “They had a lot of complimentary players last year to where Taurean Prince was the sixth man of the year coming off the bench and then you had (Royce) O’Neale who killed us every game that we played. Plus, you had Kenny Chery, one of the best players to play at Baylor as far as being a point guard. They had great company that helped them pull through wins last year.”
Forward Devin Williams pulled down a career-high 18 rebounds in Tuesday night's 81-75 victory at Iowa State (Iowa State photo).
If you hadn’t noticed, Williams is pretty familiar with Baylor’s personnel, particularly 6-foot-8-inch, 275-pound forward Rico Gathers.
“It’s my third year and I’ve been playing a lot so that’s my job to go out there and know who I’m guarding and who we’re playing against,” Williams laughed.
Gathers is the one player in the Big 12 very similar to Williams in stature and style. The Laplace, Louisiana resident is averaging 13 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season after leading the league in rebounding last season with an average of 11.6 boards per game.
Gathers is the one player in the Big 12 very similar to Williams in stature and style. The Laplace, Louisiana resident is averaging 13 points and 10.8 rebounds per game this season after leading the league in rebounding last season with an average of 11.6 boards per game.
Gathers scored 17 and pulled down 17 rebounds against the Mountaineers last year in Morgantown and had 17 points and 10 boards in Waco in the return game.
“He’s look upon very highly in the Big 12, but I don’t know if people look upon him as highly nationally as they probably should,” said Williams. “I feel like I don’t get my (respect) period so in order for us to get what we want we have to work harder than others and do what others don’t want to do. That’s probably why we understand each other.”
Supporting Gathers is 6-foot-8-inch, 220-pound senior forward Taurean Prince, a 15.1-points-per-game scorer who can give teams fits on the perimeter or in the paint.
Prince is the only player in the Big 12 this year to rank among the league’s top 20 in scoring (fifth), rebounding (11th), assists (18th) and steals (ninth), a clear example of his outstanding versatility.
“He is to Baylor what Georges Niang is to Iowa State - he’s very, very versatile,” said Huggins.
Baylor’s best scoring threat in the backcourt is 6-foot-3, 200-pound guard Al Freeman, averaging 11.8 points per game with a team-best 38 threes. Freeman has topped 20 points in a game four times this season, most recently against Oklahoma State on January 5 when he scored 21.
Senior Lester Medford has taken over the point guard duties handled by Chery last season; junior forward Ishmail Wainright completes Baylor’s starting lineup and is averaging five points and 3.9 rebounds per game.
The Bears have used the same five starters for all 22 games this year and the bulk of their minutes come from only eight players.
By comparison, West Virginia goes 10 deep, even with starting forward Jonathan Holton still unavailable while he serves a suspension for violating team rules.
West Virginia (18-4, 7-2) is coming off of perhaps its best road performance of the season against Iowa State on Tuesday night. The Mountaineers got down by 15 in the first half before battling back to defeat the Cyclones, 81-75.
Jaysean Paige scored a game-high 23 points, Daxter Miles Jr. scored 11 and Nathan Adrian and Teyvon Myers hit some big shots in the second half for the Mountaineers.
Paige has now boosted his season average to 14 points per game, while shooting an impressive 49.7 percent from the floor.
Williams shows averages of 13.2 points and 8.9 rebounds per game while sophomore guards Jevon Carter (10.4 ppg.) and Miles Jr. (10.3 ppg.) are also averaging double figures.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins and junior forward Devin Williams talk about Saturday's game against Baylor at the WVU Coliseum.
Williams, asked on Friday what it’s like boxing out Gathers, had this to say, “I don’t know? I guess we’ll see tomorrow.”
Indeed, we will.
Baylor is looking to bounce back from Monday night’s 67-59 home loss to Texas. The Bears are seeking their fourth straight conference road win for the first time in school history, Baylor having defeated Iowa State, Texas Tech and Oklahoma State away from the Ferrell Center heading into Saturday night’s game.
A capacity crowd is expected and a national television audience will be tuned in on ESPN2 to see two top 15 teams looking to stick with Oklahoma at the top of the Big 12 standings.
No. 14 West Virginia is currently tied with the Sooners in first place, while Baylor is in a three-way tie with Kansas and Texas in second at 6-3.
Obviously, a win over Baylor on Saturday would be very meaningful – in more ways than one.
“It’s a difference of two games (in the league standings), and that’s huge,” said Huggins.
Tip time is 8 p.m.
Fans are encouraged to wear either blue or gold depending upon your seat location to help West Virginia Stripe the Coliseum. A detailed map of the color layout can be viewed at http://www.wvusports.com/stripethecoliseum.
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