Score Predictions for West Virginia vs Baylor
The West Virginia Mountaineers host the No. 5 Baylor Bears Tuesday evening at five and will be televised on ESPN2.
Schuyler Callihan: Baylor 72, West Virginia 68
The Mountaineers are looking to rebound following a blowout road loss to Kansas on Saturday. It just so happens that the Bears are searching for answers themselves after dropping two straight while being ranked No. 1 in the country.
Baylor head coach Scott Drew told reporters on Monday that it was possible that guard James Akinjo (13.9 ppg, 5.7 apg) and forward Jeremy Sochan (7.9 ppg, 5.9 rpg) could miss the game due to undisclosed injuries. If both of those guys are unavailable, that could be a huge blow for the Bears. Fortunately for them, they have one of the deepest benches in the Big 12 with eight players averaging over 17 minutes per game.
As for the Mountaineers, their best scorer, Taz Sherman, is still not back to 100% after a bout with COVID-19, according to head coach Bob Huggins. If he doesn't bounce back, West Virginia will need a big night from Sean McNeil and possibly Jalen Bridges just to hang in the game and have a chance.
With a lot of unknowns, I'm going to give the slight edge to the Bears mainly because WVU hasn't figured anything out offensively in addition to Sherman and McNeil.
Christopher Hall: Baylor 77 West Virginia 67
West Virginia is coming off a 26-point loss at Kansas, while Baylor has suffered back-to-back losses for the first time since losing four straight to end the 2018-19 regular season into the Big 12 Conference tournament.
Mountaineers guard Taz Sherman has not been at 100% since coming back from COVID-19 protocols, and the team's production has suffered as a result, despite big games from Malik Curry and Jalen Bridges. Sean McNeil has been able to get his points even with the extra defensive attention. Sherman led the Big 12 in scoring before sitting out with COVID, but the Mountaineers continue to show improvement even with the lopsided loss on Saturday.
It's hard to count out a West Virginia team playing at home, even if they are not at 100%, but until Sherman is back to his old way, wins against top teams will be hard to come by. The Mountaineers fight but come up short in the end 77-67.
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