Can West Virginia Find the 'Will to Win' Against Baylor?

West Virginia and Baylor meet seeking their first Big 12 win

West Virginia and Baylor are looking for their first Big 12 Conference win and will square off Wednesday night inside the WVU Coliseum with tipoff set for 7:00 p.m. and the action streaming on ESPN+.

They both lost to Kansas State in overtime with the difference being Baylor fell at home. Baylor has lost two conference home games while West Virginia dropped two on the road before losing to third-ranked Kansas at home on Saturday.

Despite the 0-3 start, Baylor is second in the league in scoring during conference play at 81.3 points per game. Leading the charge for the Bears is a trio of guards, starting with freshman guard Keyonte George’s 16.8 ppg on the season, followed by senior guard Adam Flagler, who is averaging 16.7 ppg behind a team-best 48.2% from three-point range, and junior guard LJ Cryer is posting 13.8 ppg.

“They have, for as long as I can remember, relied on their guards, and their guards are good, and their guards take the vast majority of their shots,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.

“They make a lot of shots. Shoot it deep. Drive it. Everything pretty much starts with a ball screen,” he added.

Former West Virginia forward Jalen Bridges transferred to Baylor in the offseason. He averaged 8.4 points and 4.8 rebounds a year ago and is on pace for the same stat line this season, averaging 8.8 points and 4.8 rebounds per game.

West Virginia was shooting 49.2% from the field heading into conference play but in three conference games, the Mountaineers are shooting a league-worst 37.8%.

“We haven’t made shots, we haven’t made free throws, we’ve missed countless layups, we don’t guard very well, we don’t rebound very well, hence we’re 0-3. But the reality is, we were up against K-State, we really had a chance took it to overtime, had opportunities and just didn’t come through with the opportunities that were presented to us.”

West Virginia held the lead over Kansas State in the Mountaineers’ conference opener and two days later at Oklahoma State but could not close out the game.

“We have, everywhere I’ve ever been we, you put that sign up that says, ‘find a way’,” said Huggins. “You’re not always going to make shots, you’re not always going to make free throws, you’re not always going to do a lot of things right but you should always aspire to find a way to win.”

Huggins questioned whether WVU has the ‘killer’ the Mountaineers need to finish a game. The frontrunner is undoubtedly West Virginia leading scorer Erik Stevenson (14.0) fouled it in the first two Big 12 games, speeding up the process with a technical in each of the two games.

However, Huggins gives his reasoning for the recent skid.

“If you want to put your finger on one thing that we need the most, we need the will to win.”

West Virginia trails the all-time series 8-14 with Baylor taking the six of the last seven meetings. 

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