MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was Baylor day at the WVU Coliseum and time for another top-25 matchup, a common occurrence in the Big 12 this season when more than half the teams are ranked.
We were courtside with for the action—and the Rico Gathers Rebound Watch—as No. 15 West Virginia tried in vain to rebound from Tuesday night’s embarrassment at Oklahoma. Instead, another embarrassment ensued.
A recap of the in-game updates:
Baylor wins 87-69 (final)
Gathers finished with 17 points and 16 rebounds and Baylor placed four scorers in double figures to enjoy a runaway. Devin Williams had 20 points and 15 boards, but they were overshadowed by WVU’s wort home loss since 2008.
Baylor leads 72-52 (7:16 second half)
With Jaysean Paige and Chase Conner on the floor, Huggins is hoping to crack Baylor’s zone, but neither guard is among WVU’s best defenders and Al Freeman waltzed in for an uncontested layup. The Mountaineers are 4-of-18 from 3-point range, which comes on the heels of 5-for-26 in Norman. … Baylor is doubling up WVU on free-throw attempts, 31-15.
Baylor leads 64-45 (11:48 second half)
Gathers just grabbed an offensive rebound—after twice tipping the ball to keep the play alive—and was fouled by Conner, which sent us to the media timeout. The relentless Gathers could be looking at a 20-20 game: He has 15 points and 14 boards currently. … Williams has 10 points on 5-of-8 shooting this half (17 overall), though it hasn’t helped WVU cut into the lead.
Baylor leads 59-38 (14:46 second half)
The all-important opening five minutes of the second half went much the same way as the first half did—all Baylor. Plus Daxter Miles picked up his third and fourth fouls. Miles and Williams missed point-blank shots after WVU passed the ball inside, gimmies the Mountaineers can’t afford to miss with a deficit like this.
Baylor leads 46-30 (halftime)
Carter’s 13 points leads WVU, while Devin Williams has seven and Staten four. … Baylor’s Rico Gathers has a halftime double-double with 10 and 10. Royce O’Neal also scored 11 points and reserve Taurean Prince has 10.
Baylor leads 46-30 (halftime)
Jevon Carter’s 3-pointer just 2 seconds before the horn provided the Mountaineers with a mini-boost in what has been their worst half of the season. They shot 34 percent, allowed Baylor to hit 59 percent and trail 24-14 in rebounds.
Baylor leads 39-23 (3:39 first half)
After falling behind by 22, this 16-point hole seems almost inspiring for West Virginia, which is built for comebacks with its tempo-pushing press. That’s the silver lining, such as it is. Not so silver is Baylor’s 21-8 rebounding edge, and the fact the Bears’ zone is typically rigid. … Carter sank a couple 3s and two layups off steals for his 10 points, but Juwan Staten gave his second foul preventing a breakaway layup.
Baylor leads 21-3 (11:52 first half)
Nothing has gone right for West Virginia early: 1-of-10 shooting, 0-of-5 3-point shooting, being outrebounded 11-4, operating at a 4-3 turnover deficit. The Bears are 7-of-11 from the floor and 4-of-5 from 3 and essentially finding open players at will.
Baylor leads 13-3 (15:54 first half)
West Virginia got a quick basket from Devin Williams but missed its next four shots while the Bears are 5-of-7, including 3-of-3 from 3-point range. Huggins was forced to use a timeout, part of which he spent barking at a ref for a couple calls—one negated a WVU steal at halfcourt, the other was a no-call as Adrian’s putback was blocked at the rim.
PREGAME NOTES
— West Virginia’s shooting problems have been deeply chronicled and lamented. Just check out the 3-point percentages for Nate Adrian, Jon Holton, Tarik Phillip and BillyDee Williams. But Huggins contends there’s more to missed shots than the shooters: “It’s hard to shoot grounders. It’s hard to scoop it off the floor and shoot it. It’s hard to catch it off your shoelaces, We’ve got to pass it better. Everybody wants the ball in the shooting pocket and we just haven’t done a very good job of putting the ball there.”
— So, about this Rico Gathers cat. At 6-foot-8 and 280 pounds, he’s a load and he considers every missed shot his domain. And West Virginia wants to see if he’ll be as rugged and bouncy after playing at a breakneck pace. “You need to get into his body and get him tired, really tired,” said forward Elijah Macon.
— After missing the Oklahoma game with an illness, Devin Williams is back in the starting lineup, as Macon predicted Friday. “He practiced pretty good (Thursday), and I can tell he feels better.”