As in anything, there’s an expected certain level of desperation that comes upon the realization finality is setting in.
West Virginia showcased it from the jump in a 79-71 victory over then-No. 19 and now unranked BYU last Saturday at Hope Coliseum to end a three-game losing streak.
Still thought to be playing meaningful basketball in large part thanks to that result, the Mountaineers are tasked with trying to duplicate the effort twice this week starting Tuesday at Kansas State. Tip-off at Bramlage Coliseum is 8 p.m. for a contest that can be seen on ESPN+.
“They’re human beings, but their commitment level to what we’ve been doing and how we’ve been asking them to do it has been really good — as good as I’ve been around,” first-year WVU head coach Ross Hodge said. “They’re really incredible in hotels, on planes, in locker rooms and how they interact with other people. It wasn’t something I wanted to take for granted. I wanted to make sure that I was giving them everything I have. That was what we asked.
“Let’s make sure our commitment level doesn’t waver. This is the Big 12. You’re going to go through tough stretches and have some tough losses. We’re not looking at an insurmountable mountain that we have to climb. That was where the urgency came in.”
Ahead of Friday’s home finale against Central Florida, the Mountaineers seek a regular season sweep against the struggling Wildcats.
Between a 59-54 loss in Morgantown back on January 27 and Tuesday’s second meeting, Kansas State fired head coach Jerome Tang.
The Wildcats (11-18, 2-14) are 1-3 with Matthew Driscoll serving as interim head coach.Driscoll’s first game amounted to perhaps the team’s best showing this season — a 90-74 win against Baylor, but was followed with a 28-point loss at Texas Tech and consecutive nine-point setbacks against Colorado and TCU.
Whereas the Mountaineers (17-12, 8-8) are in a three-way tie with BYU and Cincinnati for eighth place in the Big 12 Conference, the Wildcats can finish no better than 15th and are battling with Utah to avoid last place.
Coming off two of the three highest-scoring games in Big 12 play, WVU is looking to maintain its recent high level of offensive execution.
The Mountaineers amassed 84 points in an overtime loss at Oklahoma State (77 in regulation) prior to defeating the Cougars. Only the 86 in a home win over Kansas back in January account for a higher total in league play than the last two games.
“There’s a do or die mindset we have right now as a team,” said senior guard Honor Huff, WVU’s leading scorer at 15.7 points. “The camaraderie we brought every day over the last 72 hours since the defeat at Oklahoma State and not wanting to let my team down, I came out with a mindset that I’m going to leave it all out there and have some fun. It shows in the plays I was able to make and these guys made.”
While no more than an adequate rebounding team for much of the season, West Virginia dominated the backboards for a 39-29 edge against BYU, including 18-8 on the offensive end. Forward Brenen Lorient had one fewer offensive rebound than the Cougars and was especially effective in the second half, when he scored 14 of his 18 points.
“We got killed on the glass against Utah and TCU,” Lorient said, referencing the Mountaineers’ minus-21 rebounding margin over two recent setbacks. “A big emphasis from coaches has been to get more rebounds and second-chance opportunities.”
The Mountaineers also enjoyed a halftime lead against BYU for only for the fourth time against a Big 12 team this season, with this one 40-26 to account for their largest advantage against a league foe at the break.
West Virginia was also in solid shape through 20 minutes in its first meeting with KSU with a 28-22 lead.
A solid start would go a long way for WVU, which can assure itself of a non-losing Big 12 mark with a second victory over the Wildcats.
“You always want to focus on the next game at hand, but we’re not naive to the fact that we have two games guaranteed in the regular season,” Huff said. “We still have a chance to do something special that we all want to do, which is go to the NCAA Tournament, but we can’t have any slip-ups. Our aggressiveness and assertiveness showed from the jump. I’m not saying it’s because of that, because we should have been doing it from the jump, but we’re in that situation now and we have to make the best of it. We started off right, so we have to get the next two.”
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With one three-pointer made, Huff will reach 100 triples for the third straight season and become only the third Mountaineer to do so in a season.
Frank Young’s program record of 117 from 2007 is within reach, while Chris Leonard remains second for the time being with 101 in 1992.
Huff has already set the single season program record for three-point attempts with 276, which he did so with his seventh of 10 attempts from long distance Saturday.
“It’s a testament to the people around me and the confidence they have in me to shoot those threes, because I didn’t go 99 for 99 — I can promise you that,” Huff said. “Their confidence in me to get them up and the work I’ve put in since I was a kid all comes to fruition at this stage. I’m grateful to be able to do that again this year.”
A home loss to Texas Tech is Huff’s lone game without at least one trey this season, while he’s made multiple threes in 26 of 29 contests.