WVU v. Oklahoma: Big 12 semifinal
March 11, 2016 by Mike Casazza
You are looking live at action from last month’s WVU v. Oklahoma game at the Coliseum. This did not end well for Jaysean Paige, and that game did not end well for the Mountaineers. Let’s begin at the end: The Sooners won 76-62 in Morgantown after losing two in a row and three out of four before that. How they did it said a lot, too.
“We played tough,” Spangler said. “The last three or four games, people have been beating us to loose balls and out-toughing us. I think we did that for the most part today.”
There aren’t more personal or offensive indictments of the Mountaineers than to say you were tougher or more physical. It can be true — and it most certainly was that day — but that cuts deep into the fabric of this WVU team. And perhaps that’s why Bob Huggins was so pointed in his postgame criticism that evening. “I think the biggest thing is we got destroyed on the glass,” he said. “They outrebounded us as bad as we’ve been out rebounded all year.”
WVU’s only been outrebounded seven times in 32 games. Richmond and Virginia on neutral courts and Kansas at home did it once. Baylor and Oklahoma did it twice. The Mountaineers were 2-0 against Baylor and 0-2 against Oklahoma. It was a big part of the second loss to the Sooners. They had 18 offensive rebounds, the most against WVU this season, and 48 total rebounds, the most in two seasons. The plus-11 rebounding margin was also the biggest against WVU this season.
The first loss wasn’t as one-sided, but it was defined by an offensive rebound. WVU’s defense fell apart on the final possession, and that left Khadeem Lattin to his own designs for a game-winning tip in. The Sooners had 13 offensive rebounds and a 19-7 edge in second-chance points.
Lattin’s been a problem for the Mountaineers. He has 16 points, 21 rebounds, two assists, eight blocked shots and three steals in the two wins this season. His two-game averages for the season are 11 points, 11 rebounds, 1.4 assists, 4.4 blocked shots and 1.8 steals. He is who everyone is, it seems, against WVU, and he’s obviously in the middle of the preferred approach tonight.
“West Virginia is a physical team and we have to be physical just as much as them,” Isaiah Cousin said. “Coach Kruger gets us prepared every time we played them. He really focused on being physical.”
WVU knows what’s coming, as odd as it is to say that while readying for Cousins, Buddy Hield and Jordan Woodard against the press, but that war of aggressions is going to matter. I have to think that’s why the Mountaineers weren’t tickled with shooting 11-for-24 from 3-point range last night.
The 11 3s were the most in a Big 12 game and the second-best total of the season, and that was a timely supplement to use against TCU’s zone. But it was a deviation, and though that might win tonight, it might not be what WVU wants to bring to the floor.
“We try not to settle for jump shots,” Jaysean Paige said. “We’re a tough team and we try to get it inside and play a tough game.”