Tuesday, February 20
Waco, Texas
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
at
Baylor
Photo by: Joshua R. Gateley
No. 21 Mountaineers Face Streaking Baylor Tuesday in Waco
February 19, 2018 02:19 PM | Men's Basketball
| Team Stats |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | 76.4 | 80.5 |
| Points Against | 68.9 | 68.4 |
| Field Goal % | 47.2 | 43.4 |
| Rebounds Per Game | 38.9 | 38.4 |
| Assists Per Game | 15.3 | 15.3 |
| Blocks Per Game | 4.6 | 5.0 |
| Steals Per Game | 5.1 | 8.4 |
| Streak | W5 | L1 |
The Bears (17-10, 7-7) won their fifth straight Saturday night in Waco, ending Texas Tech's seven-game winning streak.
Baylor, once on the NCAA Tournament bubble, is playing its way right into the tournament with this late-season run.
"I think that's the great thing about the Big 12 - I think there are nine schools making cases for the NCAA Tournament," Baylor coach Scott Drew said after Saturday's win.
Speaking the loudest for Baylor is once-injured forward Terry Maston, who is emerging as the Bears' go-to guy with 24 points and five rebounds in their 59-57 victory over the seventh-rated Red Raiders.
Maston made 10-of-19 from the floor and grabbed five rebounds on Saturday. The only other Bear to reach double figures was guard Manu Lecomte with 10 points.
Texas Tech, playing the second half without star point guard Keenan Evans, who was out with a toe injury, failed to make a field goal over the final three minutes to lose for just the fifth time in 27 games.
Baylor's ability to shut down the Red Raiders late in the game has to be concerning to a West Virginia team struggling to close out leads down the stretch.
In a 77-69 loss at Kansas, the Mountaineers led by 12 at the 10-minute mark and had a 10-point edge with 7:22 remaining before going cold.
It's been a troubling trend for a team that has played well for the first 30, 35 minutes of games but can't seem to come up with the necessary plays down the stretch to win difficult basketball games.
We saw it at Texas Tech; we saw it against Kentucky, we saw it against Oklahoma State and we saw it happen twice against Kansas. In all five WVU had control of the games.
Against the Jayhawks, despite a 35-2 free throw shooting disparity in favor of Kansas, West Virginia had several opportunities to either tie the game or retake the lead once KU had a 68-66 advantage with 1:40 remaining.
Forward Lamont West missed a 3 with 1:12 left and Daxter Miles Jr. was fouled grabbing the rebound. He could have tied the game at the line by converting both ends of the one-and-one, but Miles Jr. committed a lane violation when he left early to retrieve a shot he knew he had missed.
Kansas' Devonte' Graham couldn't get his jumper to go down at the other end, giving West Virginia another opportunity to knot the score or go back into the lead.
This time, Jevon Carter missed a 3, but a Wesley Harris offensive rebound gave the Mountaineers a third crack at getting points. Harris got the ball out to Miles Jr. and he passed up an open look at a 3 to try and make a pass closer to the basket.
The turnover gave Kansas the ball back and sent the Jayhawks to the foul line with 24 seconds remaining.
Graham made both free throws, and when Miles Jr. made contact with Kansas center Udoka Azubuike on his unsuccessful drive to the basket Huggins erupted in anger, drawing two technical fouls and getting tossed from the game.
Game over.
Afterward, Huggins admitted during his postgame press conference that his frustration goes well beyond Saturday's game.
His team fouls a lot and sends their opponents to the free throw line frequently, but for some reason it is happening at a much higher frequency in Big 12 games this year.
West Virginia averaged 20.7 fouls in its 13 non-conference games, which is nearly the same as its opponents' average of 20.3 fouls per contest, leading to a small free throw attempt disparity of 23.1 to 22.8 in favor of the Mountaineers.
But in 14 league games so far, the average number of fouls West Virginia has committed is 21.4 per game compared to its opponents' average of 17.6, leading to a free throw disparity favoring opponents by almost eight attempts per game, 24.5 to 16.9.
Compared to non-conference play, that's an average of 6.2 fewer free throw attempts per game for a jump shooting/3-point shooting Mountaineer team that is taking the same shots they have taken all season long.
That is partly what has Huggins scratching his head.
There is no question his team has to figure out a way to foul less and get to the foul line more with the regular season coming down to four final games.
The good news is the last time West Virginia and Baylor met at the WVU Coliseum on Jan. 9, a 57-54 WVU victory, the Bears actually committed five more fouls than the Mountaineers and attempted three fewer free throws.
The bad news is Maston was still recovering from the broken right hand he suffered against Xavier and failed to score in 11 minutes of action. He clearly makes Baylor a much different team than the one West Virginia faced in Morgantown 42 days ago.
"You've got to get ready for Baylor and hopefully they don't shoot (35) free throws to our 2," Huggins said during his postgame radio show following the Kansas loss. "I don't know what to do about that. The other part … we'll get them back. We'll find a way to bounce back and try to win at Baylor."
Tuesday's game will tip at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2. The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 6 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
Pregame notes: Despite Saturday's loss at Kansas, the Mountaineers remain in this week's Associated Press Top 25 poll at No. 21 - the 51st consecutive week in the polls … West Virginia's RPI is 31 following the Kansas defeat, while Baylor's RPI jumped to 45 following its win against Texas Tech … Baylor has an 8-5 edge in the all-time series with the Bears owning a 3-2 record in Waco … With three assists on Tuesday against Baylor, West Virginia's Jevon Carter will become the first player in school history with 1,500 points, 500 rebounds and 500 assists … He also is the school record holder with 301 steals … Carter continues to lead the Mountaineers in scoring (16.9 ppg.), assists (6.8 apg.) and steals (3.1 spg.) … Daxter Miles Jr. is coming off a 22-point performance at Kansas that included 6-of-9 shooting from 3 to boost his season scoring average to 12.2 points per game … In the first meeting between these two in Morgantown, West and Miles Jr. led West Virginia with 12 points each … Manu Lecomte was Baylor's leading scorer with 13, while forward Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. scored 11 and grabbed 10 rebounds … Lecomte is Baylor's leading scorer averaging 16.5 points per game, while Terry Maston has boosted his season scoring average to 10.6 in 21 games … Maston is shooting 53.3 percent from the floor and the Bears are shooting 47.2 percent as a team … Baylor is coming off its third-largest single game attendance in school history on Saturday against Texas Tech with 10,627 showing up, including 1,636 students … The Bears have reached 16-plus victories for their 11th straight season, the best stretch in school history.
Players Mentioned
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