Wednesday, February 8
Morgantown, W.Va.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Iowa State
Photo by: WVU Athletic Communications
Mountaineers Resume Tour of College Basketball’s Top 25 on Wednesday Night
February 07, 2023 01:53 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia's tour of college basketball's top 25 continues Wednesday night when 11th-ranked Iowa State makes an appearance at the WVU Coliseum.
The Cyclones are coming off an impressive, 68-53 home victory over Kansas last Saturday to boost their record to 16-6, 7-3.
Statistically, Iowa State is the Big 12's best defensive team, allowing just 61 points per game overall, and 63.8 points per game in conference play.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins believes Iowa State's great defensive numbers are a product of running good offense.
"They don't put themselves in bad positions in transition," he explained. "They're really good transition defensive team, so everybody has to play against their set defenses, and they've got shot blockers. They're harder to score on around the goal and they're harder to drive it at because of their shot blocker, but they also go back and do a good job of fortifying the lane."
Second-year coach T.J. Otzelberger has used the transfer portal to his advantage in assembling a four-guard lineup that leads the conference in steals (9.36), turnover margin (+5.18) and rebounding defense (30.86).
"Credit to them, they turn people over, but I feel like we have smart enough guys not to put ourselves into those positions," West Virginia guard Joe Toussaint said. "Obviously, turnovers happen throughout the course of the game, but I just feel like if we don't put ourselves in that position we'll be fine."
Guards Caleb Grill (UNLV) and Gabe Kalscheur (UNLV) were brought two years ago and performed well on Iowa State's 22-13 team that knocked off LSU and Wisconsin in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Then, Otzelberger went to Olean, New York, to nab two more good players – 6-foot-4 guard Jaren Holmes and 6-foot-10 shot Osun Osunniyi, the 2022 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year.
Holmes is Iowa State's leading scorer and ranks 13th in the Big 12 this week at 13.6 points per game. Osunniyi is fifth in blocks per game (1.14) and is 10th in offensive rebounding with 41.
Kalscheur is right behind Holmes with a 13.2 points-per-game average, while Grill is tops on the team with 48 3-point field goals to go along with his 10.7 scoring average.
Otzelberger stayed local to bring in Ames High guard Tamin Lipsey, who is third in the Big 12 in assists (5.0) and third in steals (1.9) per game. The 6-foot-1 freshman is also averaging seven points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
"They all take good shots," Huggins said.
Holmes and Osunniyi combined for 28 points and 11 rebounds in last Saturday's victory over the Jayhawks. Jalen Wilson scored 26 points, but the rest of the Jayhawks managed only 27 on 10-of-28 shooting.
Iowa State forced 20 Kansas turnovers, which led to 19 points.
The Cyclones are undefeated at home in Big 12 play with 15.8 points-per-game average margin of victory at Hilton Coliseum.
On the road, Iowa State is just 2-3 with early January wins at Oklahoma and TCU before dropping three straight at Kansas (62-60), Oklahoma State (61-59) and Texas Tech (80-77 in overtime). Against the Red Raiders, the Cyclones were leading 59-36 with 12:36 remaining before the wheels came off.
Iowa State and West Virginia split last year's games, the Cyclones winning 84-81 in Ames and losing 79-63 in Morgantown.
If Iowa State has its way, it wants to force the issue and make West Virginia run its offense five-on-five in a halfcourt setting and try and keep the score in the 60s.
"It's a matter of who wants it more," Toussaint said. "I'm just preaching to our guys, 'We want it more.' From here on out, we want every game more than everyone else."
West Virginia (14-9, 3-7) is also coming off an impressive Saturday performance when it routed Oklahoma 93-61. Guard Erik Stevenson poured in a career-high 34 points to boost his season average to 14.9 points per game, now 10th-best in the Big 12.
Stevenson had 31 against Auburn the prior Saturday and has scored 82 points in his last three games against Auburn, TCU and Oklahoma, connecting on 29 of 57 overall and 14 of 27 from 3-point distance.
"The fact of the matter is, if everybody plays to their potential, we're really good," Huggins said. "Erik is just starting to play to what we all thought Erik would be."
The 11th-rated Cyclones are one of three top 14 AP-ranked teams West Virginia faces in the next five days, two of those coming on the road at No. 5 Texas on Saturday and at No. 14 Baylor on Monday night.
Six of the Mountaineers' eight remaining regular season games are against teams currently in this week's Top 25.
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (James Westling and King McClure).
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and studio host David Kahn tips things off at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.
Satellite radio coverage is available on SiriusXM channel 383.
Briefly:
* West Virginia has played the sixth-toughest schedule in the country and has the third-toughest remaining schedule, according to the latest NCAA strength of schedule ratings.
* Bob Huggins has more than half of West Virginia's all-time wins against nationally ranked teams (57 of 113).
* The Big 12 continues to dominate the NET rankings as the only conference in America with all teams in the top 71 as of Monday. Seven of the 10 are in the top 21, including No. 12 Iowa State and No. 21 West Virginia.
* The Big 12's conference NET ranking of 26.8 is the lowest of any league. The next lowest ranking is 57.4.
* All 10 Big 12 teams are in analytics guru KenPom's top 69, including No. 14 West Virginia. Eight of 10 Big 12 teams are in the top 35 in this week's ESPN Basketball Power Index.
* The 9.0 average scoring margin in the Big 12 is the smallest of the A5 leagues and third-best overall. Twenty-two of the Big 12's 50 conference games have been decided by five or fewer points, an average of 44%. Iowa State has the best average scoring margin in the Big 12 at +7.7 points per game. West Virginia, which has lost seven of its 10 Big 12 games this year, is one of six teams with a plus scoring margin at +1.1.
* ESPN.com's latest Bracketology, released Tuesday morning, has moved West Virginia up to the last four byes following its 32-point victory over Oklahoma. Eight Big 12 teams are currently in Joe Lunardi's field of 68 with four weeks left in the regular season.
The Cyclones are coming off an impressive, 68-53 home victory over Kansas last Saturday to boost their record to 16-6, 7-3.
Statistically, Iowa State is the Big 12's best defensive team, allowing just 61 points per game overall, and 63.8 points per game in conference play.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins believes Iowa State's great defensive numbers are a product of running good offense.
"They don't put themselves in bad positions in transition," he explained. "They're really good transition defensive team, so everybody has to play against their set defenses, and they've got shot blockers. They're harder to score on around the goal and they're harder to drive it at because of their shot blocker, but they also go back and do a good job of fortifying the lane."
Second-year coach T.J. Otzelberger has used the transfer portal to his advantage in assembling a four-guard lineup that leads the conference in steals (9.36), turnover margin (+5.18) and rebounding defense (30.86).
"Credit to them, they turn people over, but I feel like we have smart enough guys not to put ourselves into those positions," West Virginia guard Joe Toussaint said. "Obviously, turnovers happen throughout the course of the game, but I just feel like if we don't put ourselves in that position we'll be fine."
Guards Caleb Grill (UNLV) and Gabe Kalscheur (UNLV) were brought two years ago and performed well on Iowa State's 22-13 team that knocked off LSU and Wisconsin in last year's NCAA Tournament.
Then, Otzelberger went to Olean, New York, to nab two more good players – 6-foot-4 guard Jaren Holmes and 6-foot-10 shot Osun Osunniyi, the 2022 Atlantic 10 Defensive Player of the Year.
Holmes is Iowa State's leading scorer and ranks 13th in the Big 12 this week at 13.6 points per game. Osunniyi is fifth in blocks per game (1.14) and is 10th in offensive rebounding with 41.
Kalscheur is right behind Holmes with a 13.2 points-per-game average, while Grill is tops on the team with 48 3-point field goals to go along with his 10.7 scoring average.
Otzelberger stayed local to bring in Ames High guard Tamin Lipsey, who is third in the Big 12 in assists (5.0) and third in steals (1.9) per game. The 6-foot-1 freshman is also averaging seven points and 3.4 rebounds per game.
"They all take good shots," Huggins said.
Holmes and Osunniyi combined for 28 points and 11 rebounds in last Saturday's victory over the Jayhawks. Jalen Wilson scored 26 points, but the rest of the Jayhawks managed only 27 on 10-of-28 shooting.
Iowa State forced 20 Kansas turnovers, which led to 19 points.
The Cyclones are undefeated at home in Big 12 play with 15.8 points-per-game average margin of victory at Hilton Coliseum.
On the road, Iowa State is just 2-3 with early January wins at Oklahoma and TCU before dropping three straight at Kansas (62-60), Oklahoma State (61-59) and Texas Tech (80-77 in overtime). Against the Red Raiders, the Cyclones were leading 59-36 with 12:36 remaining before the wheels came off.
Iowa State and West Virginia split last year's games, the Cyclones winning 84-81 in Ames and losing 79-63 in Morgantown.
If Iowa State has its way, it wants to force the issue and make West Virginia run its offense five-on-five in a halfcourt setting and try and keep the score in the 60s.
"It's a matter of who wants it more," Toussaint said. "I'm just preaching to our guys, 'We want it more.' From here on out, we want every game more than everyone else."
West Virginia (14-9, 3-7) is also coming off an impressive Saturday performance when it routed Oklahoma 93-61. Guard Erik Stevenson poured in a career-high 34 points to boost his season average to 14.9 points per game, now 10th-best in the Big 12.
Stevenson had 31 against Auburn the prior Saturday and has scored 82 points in his last three games against Auburn, TCU and Oklahoma, connecting on 29 of 57 overall and 14 of 27 from 3-point distance.
"The fact of the matter is, if everybody plays to their potential, we're really good," Huggins said. "Erik is just starting to play to what we all thought Erik would be."
The 11th-rated Cyclones are one of three top 14 AP-ranked teams West Virginia faces in the next five days, two of those coming on the road at No. 5 Texas on Saturday and at No. 14 Baylor on Monday night.
Six of the Mountaineers' eight remaining regular season games are against teams currently in this week's Top 25.
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (James Westling and King McClure).
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and studio host David Kahn tips things off at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.
Satellite radio coverage is available on SiriusXM channel 383.
Briefly:
* West Virginia has played the sixth-toughest schedule in the country and has the third-toughest remaining schedule, according to the latest NCAA strength of schedule ratings.
* Bob Huggins has more than half of West Virginia's all-time wins against nationally ranked teams (57 of 113).
* The Big 12 continues to dominate the NET rankings as the only conference in America with all teams in the top 71 as of Monday. Seven of the 10 are in the top 21, including No. 12 Iowa State and No. 21 West Virginia.
* The Big 12's conference NET ranking of 26.8 is the lowest of any league. The next lowest ranking is 57.4.
* All 10 Big 12 teams are in analytics guru KenPom's top 69, including No. 14 West Virginia. Eight of 10 Big 12 teams are in the top 35 in this week's ESPN Basketball Power Index.
* The 9.0 average scoring margin in the Big 12 is the smallest of the A5 leagues and third-best overall. Twenty-two of the Big 12's 50 conference games have been decided by five or fewer points, an average of 44%. Iowa State has the best average scoring margin in the Big 12 at +7.7 points per game. West Virginia, which has lost seven of its 10 Big 12 games this year, is one of six teams with a plus scoring margin at +1.1.
* ESPN.com's latest Bracketology, released Tuesday morning, has moved West Virginia up to the last four byes following its 32-point victory over Oklahoma. Eight Big 12 teams are currently in Joe Lunardi's field of 68 with four weeks left in the regular season.
Players Mentioned
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