MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia begins the second half of their Big 12 schedule Thursday night against the team the Mountaineers defeated last month to collect their first league victory. WVU (14-8, 5-3 Big 12) visits Cincinnati (11-11, 3-6 Big 12) at Fifth Third Arena for a 7 p.m. tipoff.
On January 6, the Mountaineers erased a late deficit with consecutive three-pointers from Honor Huff (2:13 to play) and Treysen Eaglestaff (1:12 to play) to defeat the Bearcats, 62-60. Huff led the Mountaineers with 24 points and eight rebounds. No UC starter scored in double-digits and their two frontcourt starters were limited to a combined eight points.
“Baba [Miller] is so talented and with [Moustapha] Thiam, they have such great length that you have to make sure you are not giving them second-chance points,” said WVU head coach Ross Hodge. “You’ve got to keep them out of transition. In that first game, they had 18 points off our turnovers, which a lot of those were direct runouts.”
“Against Cincinnati, one of the things we struggled with was our transition defense and the turnovers that led to the transition defense. About one-third of their points came off our turnovers. We’ve got to a better job of that,” said WVU senior guard Jasper Floyd.
“I think we just had that sense of urgency as a team. We did a better job of locking in. They went on a 9-0 run late in the second half and then we only gave up five points after that, for real. We had a higher sense of urgency on defense. And then on offense, some of our players made really big plays. That’s what really good players do.”
In the new 18-game Big 12 schedule, all teams will have only three regular season rematches. This is the first rematch for WVU with second contests against UCF and Kansas State set to wrap up the regular season in March.
“This is the first time you have played a team for the second time as a group. We’ve all done it. Collectively, you are looking at it — the first time we played, here are the things they did that hurt us. You would imagine that are looking at that and you feel like, hey, we have an advantage in these areas and what can you do to balance that. You are also predicting the things you did to hurt them, assuming they may have a counter and not let you do that,” Hodge said.
“These games have such small margin for error. I think the biggest thing you can’t forget in all these things is that you have to be good in the margins. You’ve got to get loose balls. You’ve got to get second-chance points. You’ve got to continue to do your best to rebound the ball really well.”
In their first meeting against the Bearcats, West Virginia jumped out to a 13-point lead (19-6) just over eight minutes into the game. However, slow starts have plagued the Mountaineers in their last four games. The Mountaineers have gone 2-2 in those contests, but Hodge is determined to find answers to the sluggish starts.
“For a large part of the season, we were getting off to really fast starts and we were having a harder time finishing, It started in the Arizona State game where we got off to a slow start there, then Arizona and we come back for the last two at home. It is a combination of a lot of things that you are looking at. Obviously, we are evaluating that,” Hodge said.
“It is not just one, singular issue. It is a lot of things. Some of it is personnel issues. Some of it is coaching issues. Some of it is not finishing. You are getting the ball where you want to get it early in these games and maybe you are not making the play. Then you have to evaluate as a coach that maybe that is not the best way to start these guys. But everybody has kind of had a hand in it.”
“We have mental lapses with certain scouting report errors,” Floyd said. “That’s on the defensive end, really. And then on the offensive end, it is more, we’re like not really sure what we are supposed to do to begin the game, which I think is kind of normal when you are trying to figure out ways open up the game and how the defense is playing you. It is more of locking into the scouting report.”
With four full days of preparation for Thursday’s contest at Cincinnati, Hodge believes the extra prep time allows for more time to evaluate themselves.
“You can find yourself all you are doing is preparing for who you are playing and you don’t get a chance to self-scout or self-correct. That gave us an opportunity to look at some different spacing attacks and looking at how people are guarding you now and how you can take advantage of how you are being guarded.”
Although the Mountaineers find themselves in the top half of the Big 12 Conference standings, they must secure several marquee victories over the second half of their league schedule to entertain thoughts of an NCAA Tournament bid. WVU stands 66th in the NCAA NET ratings. They are 1-5 in Quad 1 games, with the victory coming against Kansas. West Virginia is just 1-7 in games played away from Hope Coliseum.
“We all have a goal in mind. I think the best thing for us is to focus on what’s now. I believe, and we believe that we control our own destiny,” Floyd said.
“If we can just continue to control what we can control and focus on the next day, the next practice and the next game, I think we will put ourselves in the best place possible.
“Every place I have been, I had to win the conference to get in the tournament. We all know that we don’t have to do that here.”