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No. 1 to Make a 7th Appearance at the Coliseum
January 09, 2017 02:49 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - College basketball’s No. 1-ranked men’s basketball team will be visiting Morgantown, West Virginia, for only the seventh time ever when the top-ranked Baylor Bears come to town for a Tuesday night clash of top 10-ranked teams.
The other occasions when No. 1 visited the Coliseum happened in 1983 (UNLV), 1988 (Temple), 1995 (Massachusetts), 1999 (Connecticut), 2006 (Connecticut) and last year (Kansas).
Baylor, unranked to begin the year, completed its climb to the top of the polls this week following Big 12 wins over Iowa State and Oklahoma State to run its record to 15-0.
Baylor’s impressive start also includes victories over Oregon, VCU, Michigan State, Louisville, Xavier and Oklahoma.
It is the first time Baylor has ever achieved a No. 1 ranking in men’s basketball. Prior to this year, the Bears’ previous best was a No. 3 rating in January, 2012, following a 17-0 start to the season.
Both instances have happened under Scott Drew, now in his 14th season in Waco where he owns a 266-172 overall record. Despite his impressive success, Drew is one of the game’s outstanding coaches who has flown under the radar a little bit.
“I think he’s starting to get his due a little bit nationally,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “I see more about him but it’s just hard in this league (to get recognition). It’s so full of great coaches. I think Lon Kruger is going to be a hall of fame guy, (Bill) Self already is and Bruce Weber has been to the Final Four.
“There are a bunch of great coaches in the league and sometimes guys get overlooked, but he’s always done a great job. If you look, he’s always been in the mix. He’s always been in the NCAA Tournament. They beat us three times in a row here.”
The Bears boast impressive size in the paint where 6-foot-10-inch, 230-pound junior forward Johnathon Motley leads the team in scoring (15.4 ppg.) and rebounding (9.4 rpg.). Motley is shooting 53.5 percent from the floor while grabbing a team-best 42 offensive rebounds.
Seven-footer Jo Lual-Acuil, a native of Melbourne, Australia, has blocked a team-best 52 shots while also showing averages of 10.7 points and 7.1 rebounds per game.
Another big, 6-foot-8-inch Terry Maston, comes off the bench to provide 8.2 points and 4.9 rebounds per game, giving Baylor almost 35 points and more than 21 rebounds per game near the basket.
“They’re so long,” Huggins said. “That’s the biggest thing. It makes that zone good when you can pretty much touch hands across the floor you’re going to cover some ground and they cover a lot of ground.”
Junior guard Manu Lecomte, a Miami transfer from Brussels, Belgium, has really come alive this year, averaging 11.8 points and 4.9 assists while making a team-best 26 3-point field goals.
Junior guard Al Freeman, from Charlotte, North Carolina, is right behind Lecomte in scoring (11.1 ppg.) and 3-point shooting (25 made 3s).
Two other Baylor players see notable minutes coming off the bench - 6-foot-5-inch, senior guard Isaiah Wainright (5.5 ppg. and 5.4 rpg.) and 6-foot-5-inch sophomore guard Jake Lindsey (4.8 ppg. and 2.4 rpg.).
Baylor is outscoring its opponents by an average of 18.8 points per game this year, owns an 8.2 rebounds-per-game advantage on the glass and has more than a 2-to-1 advantage in blocked shots (89 to 42).
“You just can’t simulate that length,” Huggins noted. “They can make mistakes and compensate for it because of their length. You don’t get anything easy or unchallenged around the rim.”
West Virginia guard Jevon Carter celebrates last year's win over Baylor at the WVU Coliseum. All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo
West Virginia, meanwhile, boosted its record to 13-2 following last Saturday’s 82-70 victory over TCU at the Coliseum.
West Virginia dropped three spots to No. 10 in this week’s AP poll after falling in overtime at Texas Tech, 77-76, earlier in the week.
Four days later against TCU, a season-high crowd of 12,568 watched West Virginia go on an 18-9 run over the game’s remaining six minutes to push its Big 12 record back over .500 at 2-1.
Daxter Miles Jr. tied his season high with 22 points and Jevon Carter banged three 3s late in the second half in the victory.
Sophomore forward Esa Ahmad leads West Virginia in scoring with an average of 12.9 points per game, followed by Miles (11.1 ppg.) and Carter (10.5 ppg.).
Including those three, nine different players continue to average better than 5.6 points per game as the Mountaineers average 90.1 points and are outscoring their opponents by 28.7 points per contest.
“We’ve got to try and do a good job in the full court to try and speed them up,” Huggins said.
Tuesday’s game against No. 1-ranked Baylor will mark the second straight year West Virginia’s has played host to No. 1. Last year, the Mountaineers defeated top-ranked Kansas, 74-63 - the fourth time West Virginia has defeated No. 1.
The others were against North Carolina in Lexington, Kentucky, in 1957, against Duke in Charleston, West Virginia, in 1966 and against UNLV in Morgantown in 1983.
More than 12,000 came out on a week day in the snow to witness last year’s game against No. 1 Kansas.
The Mountaineers were 2-0 against Baylor last season, defeating the Bears 80-69 in Morgantown and 69-58 in Waco to conclude the regular season.
The game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 and will tip off at 7 p.m.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s pregame coverage will begin at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com or the mobile app TuneIn.
Tickets are still available and can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800-WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
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