Final Thoughts: Mountaineers Show Growth Against Georgetown

The West Virginia Mountaineers (4-1) handles their business defeating the Georgetown Hoyas 80-71 (1-2) in the Big East/Big 12 Challenge Sunday evening.

The Mountaineers looked out of sync for most of the game and did not pull together until about the game's final 10 minutes. The defense appeared to be a step behind like they have to start the first five games of the season, and they continued to look confused in their half court offense. Yet, they were able to stay within a possession or two throughout the game.

After trailing by six at the 13:33 mark of the second half, West Virginia put together the first of their two runs in the second half to pull away from the Hoyas.

Deuce McBride ignited the first run burying an open three after taking advantage of a fallen Georgetown defender. Then followed suit with a nice dish to Oscar Tshiebwe, who chipped in from the free throw line, hitting 3-4 during the run. Emmitt Matthews Jr. capped off the 10-0 run with one of his top 10 plays of the day with an alley-oop from McBride.

Georgetown responded and took back the lead, but the Mountaineers put together an 11-2 run sparked by Matthews making the play of the day with a tomahawk slam dunk over a Georgetown defender.

What sparked the offense was the team collectively coming together on the defensive end, and it helped, on both ends of the floor, having forwards Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe back in the game after sitting most of the first half due to foul trouble.

Deuce’s 11 first half points were a big reason the Mountaineers only trailed by two at halftime and led the team in scoring on the night with 17 points and had seven assists, seven rebounds, and four steals. Besides his shooting, there were a couple of plays that stuck out.

First, right before the end of the half, Chudier Bile hit a high arching three to give the Hoyas a four-point lead with seven seconds remaining, and Deuce took the ball, drove the length of the floor, drew a foul, and made a pair of free throws. It was visible that he single-handedly took the Hoyas momentum away going into the break.

Second, he made a diving play on the floor on the defensive end in the second half. Although it did not result in the Mountaineers grabbing one of their nine steals on the evening, the clock shot started to wind down, and the Hoyas were forced to put up a tough shot during West Virginia’s first run of the second half.

Once Culver was on the floor, he continued his dominance with 11 second half points, and all nine rebounds came in the final 20 minutes. His only issue this season has been foul trouble. If he can stay out of foul trouble, there’s a good chance he can average over 20 points and 10 rebounds this season.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. hit double digits for the first time this season with 13 points on 5-11 shooting. Outside of the VCU game, He has started off the season aggressive, but he turned it up a few notches against Georgetown. Despite getting knocked to the ground a couple of times and forced into some bad shots around the rim, he continued to attack and picked his spots from the outside. Matthews is more than capable of doing this consistently. Other guys will have nights, but for West Virginia to possibly bring home some hardware, he will have to be instrumental, and it’s a positive sign that he had a big night on the road.

Taz Sherman had been the team’s most consistent scorer, and he proved it again on Sunday night. Without a doubt, his contributions on both ends of the floor are only going to make this team better. Notably, he started the second half for Sean McNeil, who had another off night. It will be interesting to see which guard starts Wednesday night. I suspect Huggins will keep the lineup as is, but I expect Sherman to get more minutes if McNeil continues to struggle.

Tshiebwe is starting to slow down but continues to find himself out of position on the defensive end. Once he gets back to running the floor, we’ll see an improved Tshiebwe.

Freshman Jalen Bridges got his first bucket as a Mountaineer on a corner three, and Jordan McCabe produced his first field goal of the season on a three as well. McCabe also appeared to play with more confidence and took care of the ball.

Overall, it was good to see the team come together, especially in the game's final 12 minutes. That was an area last season West Virginia struggled when shots weren't falling. The Mountaineers played not to lose or just hanging on for the win a year ago. Instead, they went out and got the win and did it on the road, another area the Mountaineers struggled in last year.

West Virginia got Georgetown’s best, and not only did they withstand it, but they bullied their way to the victory in the latter stages of the game.

The Mountaineers are back in action on Wednesday for the season home opener versus Rober Morris at 7:00 pm EST on ESPN+.

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