Final Thoughts on West Virginia's loss to No. 1 Gonzaga
On Wednesday night, the No. 11 West Virginia Mountaineers (3-1) dropped their first game of the season 87-82 to the top-ranked Gonzaga Bulldogs (3-0) in the Jimmy V Classic.
West Virginia got off to its best start of the season and led for most of the first half. The defense gave a Gonzaga offense fits in the first half that averaged 96.0 points per game coming into the evening.
Gonzaga’s star point guard Jalen Suggs went down with an ankle injury, and the Mountaineers increased their lead to nine. Gonzaga appeared shook at first but has two veteran studs in the frontcourt with Corey Kispert and Drew Timme held Bulldogs steady while guards Joel Ayayi and Andrew Nembhard filled the void left behind by Suggs and kept the Bulldogs within five at the break.
Suggs played nearly 16 minutes in the second half and although he was held scoreless, he had three assists and three steals.
Gonzaga got its offense going in the second half and made a living attacking the basket on penetration off screens and backdoor cuts aided by screens. They got 40 of their 60 points within the paint in the second half on a 53-point second half output.
A lot of that can be attributed to West Virginia’s frontcourt getting into foul trouble. Gabe Osabuohien and Oscar Tshiebwe only accounted for a combined 13 second half minutes, and both fouled out of the game. Yet, they were able to combine for 24 points. An argument can be made that some of those fouls were questionable at best, but they were caught out of position several times.
Furthermore, the guards have to play better in those situations. Whether you agree with the calls or not, the season is long, and that will not be the only night where Derek Culver, Tshiebwe, and Gabe may get into foul trouble.
Taz Sherman came off the bench and hit some tough shots in some crucial moments finishing the night with 12 points, but four turnovers negate the clutch plays.
Sean McNeil got popped in the forehead, and his head split wide open from a Kispert elbow, and somehow the foul was on McNeil. Puzzling for sure, and even though he came back into the game, he never got into a rhythm and went 1-9 from the field.
Deuce registered 10 points but left some shots on the floor, shooting a rare 2-10 from mid-range and in but didn’t commit any turnovers and dished five assists.
Those three guards shot 25% from the field (8-32) and 4-13 (30.8%) from three-point range. You can’t get that kind of production from your guards going up against, maybe, the best team in the country and expect to win.
Culver placed the blame on his shoulders following the game, noting the two turnovers he committed in the later stages of the second half as the reasoning the Mountaineers fell out of reach. But to summarize, head coach Bob Huggins following the game, there is plenty of blame to go around. Culver had four turnovers in the game but finished with his second double-double on the season, 18 points and 15 rebounds.
Overall, the team looked better on both ends of the floor since their last outing, despite shooting 37.9% from the field and giving up 60 points in the paint. After all, Gonzaga is arguably the best team in the country, and they put a hurtin' on a top 10 Kansas team and rolled Auburn.
Shots won't always fall and West Virginia will have to find other ways to win, but they pull out the win if they had just limited their mistakes.
West Virginia will have to put this loss behind them quickly as they travel to the nation's capital to take on an old familiar foe, the Georgetown Hoyas, at 4:30 pm EST on FS1.
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