Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
A Big Opportunity Awaits Plitzuweit’s Mountaineers on Saturday
December 28, 2022 01:22 PM | Women's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The good news for Dawn Plitzuweit is all of her players got home for Christmas and have returned safely to Morgantown to begin preparing for Saturday's Big 12 home opener against 20th-ranked Oklahoma.
Flight cancellations because of last weekend's epic storm were certainly a cause for concern.
"Those were some pretty big challenges," she said earlier today at West Virginia's basketball practice facility.
Her 9-2 team is coming off a strong performance in West Palm Beach, Florida, late last week where it rallied from a double-digit deficit to knock off Georgia 49-45 and then followed a day later with a 29-point victory over Miami, Ohio.
Plitzuweit said her team showed lots of resiliency in the Georgia win.
"We got down and had to find a way to come back," she said. "And we were in some late-game situations we haven't been in yet, and that's something we can certainly learn and grow from and take some good things away and some other pieces we've got to get better at. Our energy going into that game and our ability to finish plays was at a really high level."
She continued, "I thought we did a really good job of competing when we were down in Florida. The Georgia game was a game where I thought we played hard and we finished plays at a very, very high level. That's something we've seen in other games in stretches, and that was a game we saw it in longer stretches of the game. That was really good."
The 81-52 victory over Miami a day later was a contest where West Virginia started and finished the game well.
"I think JJ (Quinerly) had 10 points in the first quarter and Miami didn't hit a field goal in the first quarter of the game," she pointed out. "We did a good job defensively in the fourth quarter, but in the second and third quarter, we didn't have the same discipline we needed to have."
Now, West Virginia must prepare for two Big 12 teams coming up in 20th-ranked Oklahoma and 15th-ranked Iowa State each averaging more than 80 points per game.
The Sooners are leading the Big 12 in scoring (87.6 ppg.) and field goal percentage (46.2%).
Iowa State, WVU's opponent next Wednesday night, is averaging 80.5 points per game and is outscoring its opponents by an average of 18.8 points per game.
That will provide an interesting contrast in styles because West Virginia is the Big 12's top defensive team, surrendering just 50.3 points per contest. The Mountaineers are No. 1 in the country in opponents' assist-to-turnover ratio by limiting their foes to only 0.33 per game, according to HerHoopsStats.com.
That statistic will be put to the test in the coming days.
"They both shoot it well, but they attack you in different ways," Plitzuweit explained. "Oklahoma is scoring 87 points per game, and they get to the offensive boards. Not only do they shoot it really well and score it efficiently, but they also hit the offensive glass at a very high level.
"Because of the way they attack, they also get to the free throw line 21 times a game. What is unique and different about them is we know they like to push it, and they like to score in the first 10, 15 seconds of the shot clock, but they're in transition over 30% of the game," she added. "In the years I've coached I never remember seeing a number that high. Typically, when teams are in transition 20, 25% of the game, that's a really high number."
Plitzuweit said scoring is usually the best antidote for transition teams, but Oklahoma is exceptional at pushing the basketball after made baskets.
Therefore, on Saturday, it will be important for West Virginia to perform well in transition defense.
"We have to be really, really solid in our conversion defense, and we have to be good at converting, not only after we shoot it, but we've got to be really good out of a man offense and zone offense," she said. "That's a lot of different things you have to be good at. That's what we've been doing since we came back from Christmas.
"We've been getting up and down the court. Do we change how we play? Not necessarily, because we're good in transition from an offensive standpoint in attacking as well," she said. "We've got to be who we are, but we've got to be good at taking good, efficient, effective shots at the same time."
The two teams have faced one common opponent – Robert Morris, which WVU defeated by 30 earlier this month and Oklahoma beat by 29 three days later.
In terms of NCAA NET rankings, Saturday's game will pit the No. 56 Sooners against the No. 75 Mountaineers. The trend of facing top teams continues with games on the horizon at No. 13 Iowa State on Wednesday, Jan. 4 and at No. 48 Kansas State on Saturday, Jan. 7.
Nine of the 10 Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 75 and six are in the top 50. The Big 12 has already accumulated 93 nonconference wins this year and can tie the conference record set in 2013 with one more triumph.
"They are really hard to play against because if you get out of balance and you relax for a split second, they're finding a way to get a scoring opportunity around the rim or a wide-open three," she said of the Sooners.
Tickets for Saturday's game are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
Flight cancellations because of last weekend's epic storm were certainly a cause for concern.
"Those were some pretty big challenges," she said earlier today at West Virginia's basketball practice facility.
Her 9-2 team is coming off a strong performance in West Palm Beach, Florida, late last week where it rallied from a double-digit deficit to knock off Georgia 49-45 and then followed a day later with a 29-point victory over Miami, Ohio.
Plitzuweit said her team showed lots of resiliency in the Georgia win.
"We got down and had to find a way to come back," she said. "And we were in some late-game situations we haven't been in yet, and that's something we can certainly learn and grow from and take some good things away and some other pieces we've got to get better at. Our energy going into that game and our ability to finish plays was at a really high level."
She continued, "I thought we did a really good job of competing when we were down in Florida. The Georgia game was a game where I thought we played hard and we finished plays at a very, very high level. That's something we've seen in other games in stretches, and that was a game we saw it in longer stretches of the game. That was really good."
The 81-52 victory over Miami a day later was a contest where West Virginia started and finished the game well.
"I think JJ (Quinerly) had 10 points in the first quarter and Miami didn't hit a field goal in the first quarter of the game," she pointed out. "We did a good job defensively in the fourth quarter, but in the second and third quarter, we didn't have the same discipline we needed to have."
Now, West Virginia must prepare for two Big 12 teams coming up in 20th-ranked Oklahoma and 15th-ranked Iowa State each averaging more than 80 points per game.
The Sooners are leading the Big 12 in scoring (87.6 ppg.) and field goal percentage (46.2%).
Iowa State, WVU's opponent next Wednesday night, is averaging 80.5 points per game and is outscoring its opponents by an average of 18.8 points per game.
That will provide an interesting contrast in styles because West Virginia is the Big 12's top defensive team, surrendering just 50.3 points per contest. The Mountaineers are No. 1 in the country in opponents' assist-to-turnover ratio by limiting their foes to only 0.33 per game, according to HerHoopsStats.com.
That statistic will be put to the test in the coming days.
"They both shoot it well, but they attack you in different ways," Plitzuweit explained. "Oklahoma is scoring 87 points per game, and they get to the offensive boards. Not only do they shoot it really well and score it efficiently, but they also hit the offensive glass at a very high level.
"Because of the way they attack, they also get to the free throw line 21 times a game. What is unique and different about them is we know they like to push it, and they like to score in the first 10, 15 seconds of the shot clock, but they're in transition over 30% of the game," she added. "In the years I've coached I never remember seeing a number that high. Typically, when teams are in transition 20, 25% of the game, that's a really high number."
Plitzuweit said scoring is usually the best antidote for transition teams, but Oklahoma is exceptional at pushing the basketball after made baskets.
Therefore, on Saturday, it will be important for West Virginia to perform well in transition defense.
"We have to be really, really solid in our conversion defense, and we have to be good at converting, not only after we shoot it, but we've got to be really good out of a man offense and zone offense," she said. "That's a lot of different things you have to be good at. That's what we've been doing since we came back from Christmas.
"We've been getting up and down the court. Do we change how we play? Not necessarily, because we're good in transition from an offensive standpoint in attacking as well," she said. "We've got to be who we are, but we've got to be good at taking good, efficient, effective shots at the same time."
The two teams have faced one common opponent – Robert Morris, which WVU defeated by 30 earlier this month and Oklahoma beat by 29 three days later.
In terms of NCAA NET rankings, Saturday's game will pit the No. 56 Sooners against the No. 75 Mountaineers. The trend of facing top teams continues with games on the horizon at No. 13 Iowa State on Wednesday, Jan. 4 and at No. 48 Kansas State on Saturday, Jan. 7.
Nine of the 10 Big 12 teams are ranked in the top 75 and six are in the top 50. The Big 12 has already accumulated 93 nonconference wins this year and can tie the conference record set in 2013 with one more triumph.
"They are really hard to play against because if you get out of balance and you relax for a split second, they're finding a way to get a scoring opportunity around the rim or a wide-open three," she said of the Sooners.
Tickets for Saturday's game are on sale through the Mountaineer Ticket Office and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m.
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