Initial Thoughts on West Virginia's Crushing Loss to BYU

Rapid takeaways from West Virginia's loss to BYU.

Feb 11, 2025; Morgantown, West Virginia, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers guard Joseph Yesufu (1) dribbles past Brigham Young Cougars guard Egor Demin (3) during the first half at WVU Coliseum. Mandatory Credit: Ben Queen-Imagn Images / Ben Queen-Imagn Images

Tuesday night, the West Virginia Mountaineers dropped a tight game to the BYU Cougars, 73-69.

Here are a few of my takeaways from tonight's game.

The training wheels are starting to come off

KJ Tenner did a very good job early in the season of staying within his game and just doing what he could to not let the offense go completely stagnant when Javon Small went to the bench. He hasn't been much of a scorer, but at the same time, he hasn't really given himself an opportunity to become one. At this point in the season, the Mountaineers are going to need more capable scorers, and Tenner flashed some of that tonight. When you've played in this many games, you're no longer the same true freshman who may have had big eyes on the big stage. It's back to just being a game now.

Triples were flying

We knew coming into the game that BYU would hoist up a ton of shots from beyond the arc because that's what they do and do well. West Virginia, on the other hand, hasn't been the most efficient three-point shooting team, but you wouldn't know that by the confidence they had in it tonight and rightfully so. As a team, the Mountaineers shot 9/27 from downtown, allowing them to keep pace with the Cougars' high-powered attack.

Too many second opportunities allowed

BYU may put up a bunch of threes, but they rebound it really well, and WVU had several occasions where they defended well for nearly the entire shot clock only to give the Cougars an extra crack at it. Opposing teams have made WVU pay more in other games, but it was certainly a factor in tonight's game, particularly in the second half.

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