West Virginia Hits on all Cylinders in Win Over No. 4 Baylor

West Virginia was clicking on both ends of the floor to get the statement win they needed to end the season

Morgantown, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (21-10, 9-9) ended their regular season with a statement win over the No. 4 Baylor Bears (26-4, 15-3) 76-64 in front of a raucous Mountaineer crowd Saturday afternoon.

Heading into Saturday, the Mountaineers were coming off their first road win since January 6th (Oklahoma State) after defeating Iowa State Tuesday night and head coach Bob Huggins felt good about the team making the journey to Ames, IA. He had the same feeling going into Saturday because the players were “tentative”.

“We had two of the best practices we’ve had in a very, very long time,” said Huggins. They were enthusiastic. They had bounce in their step, so I thought we would play well.”

The Mountaineers fell behind early, committing six turnovers, going 0-9 from the field and as a result, was held scoreless in the first five minutes of the game and trailed 9-0 before freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe hit a pair of free throws at the 14:53 mark.

On the ensuing possession, Derek Culver found success with his patented turnaround one-handed jumper and Emmitt Matthews Jr. buried an ill-advised turnaround jumper in transition, then tied the game at nine with a three from the top of the key.

West Virginia’s defense was stingy throughout the day and held the Bears scoreless for nearly six minutes while Matthews hit his second three of the day and Sean McNeil followed it up with a three of his own to cap off a 19-2 run to take a 19-11 lead.

“I think Emmitt kind of set the tone offensively for us,” said senior guard Chase Harler. “He was super aggressive. He was making shots, hopefully, he continues to do that, but everyone stepped up in my opinion. Sean made some foul shots at the end. Jermaine controlled the ball. Deuce (Miles McBride) came in and had that great play and had some other good plays. Everyone contributed today.”

Baylor quickly cut the deficit to two, but an offensive rebound and put back from Mountaineer forward Gabe Osabuohien, then a three by McBride at the top of the circle had West Virginia back up seven with 1:56 remaining in the half.

Bears guard MaCio Teague scored the final five points of the half to get Baylor back within two at the break, 24-22.

West Virginia and Baylor traded a couple of baskets and the Mountaineer retained the two-point lead after Chase Harler delivered a perfect pass to forward Derek Culver for the two-handed slam. Baylor responded by grabbing a five-point lead behind Mark Vital working the paint for a quick five-point turnaround to begin the second half including an offensive rebound and put back.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. remained aggressive in the second half. After Baylor grabbed a seven-point lead, Jermaine Haley snared an offensive rebound and found Matthews Jr. along the baseline, attacked the rim and dunked it over Flo Thamba and the foul.

Matthews Jr. again delivered on the ensuing possession, driving the ball towards the right baseline before pulling up and hitting the jumper to get the Mountaineers back within two. He finished the day with 18 points.

“I wanted to show I have a complete game,” said Matthews. “It’s not just three’s and fast breaks. I wanted to show I can score on all three levels.”

“Obviously, defensively I was playing at a higher level of intensity than I have all season and that just goes for the ‘want to win’ and that’s just having that ‘will to win,’” added Matthews. “And, that wasn’t just me playing at that level. We all get it from Gabe, I want to say, but that’s just the mindset of this program is, we don’t want anyone to score.”

West Virginia’s defense again clamped down holding the fourth-ranked team to a nearly six-minute scoring drought while constructing a 12-0 run to take a 49-42 lead with 5:02 remaining in the game.

Deuce McBride and Oscar Tshiebwe both had a big second half taking over in the final stages of the game and doing it with authority with big dunks, separated by a McBride layup as the Mountaineers were up 11 with three minutes to play in the game.

“It was hard getting Deuce (freshman guard Miles McBride) out with three [fouls], and then (freshman forward) Oscar (Tshiebwe) got his third,” said Huggins. “I knew we had to have Oscar down the stretch because he is the only big we have on the floor that is a very good free-throw shooter. We needed Deuce in the game, but Jermaine has played point for us. He played point for us last year, so he knows what he is doing. His ball security is actually better than the rest of them.”

Baylor played the numbers game fouling in the final three minutes of the game with West Virginia shooting just 63.8% from the free throw line this season. However, the Mountaineers went 17-21 from the line to seal the victory.

West Virginia will play the Oklahoma Sooners on Thursday at 9:00 pm est in the quarterfinals of the Big 12 Tournament.