No. 21 West Virginia entered Tuesday night’s game against Arizona winning their last seven as well as being ranked for the first time this season.
The Mountaineers and Wildcats were familiar with each other, facing off back in November. West Virginia got the best of them then, but Arizona was too much to handle for the Mountaineers this time around, as WVU’s win streak came to an end, falling 75-56 at the WVU Coliseum.
The Mountaineers would get off to a slow start offensively as Arizona was able to slow down Javon Small. Small, who was named the Naismith Trophy National Player of the Week for his efforts last week, struggled to get in rhythm and that could be felt throughout the rest of the Mountaineer offense.
Small attempted 11 of West Virginia’s 26 shot attempts in the first half as the Mountaineers struggled to find any flow on that side of the ball. West Virginia trailed 27-17 before Small would be able to pull West Virginia within reach. Small scored five straight points, as WVU trailed by five with 7:08 to play in the first half.
That’s as close as the Mountaineers would get as West Virginia went on a four-plus minute scoring drought as Arizona stretched its lead to 11 at halftime. The Wildcats were very active on the glass in the opening 20 minutes, out-rebounding WVU, 20-13 and they had a 10-point advantage on points in the paint.
The second half started the same way the first half ended for West Virginia. They struggled offensively, as their first points didn’t come until the 17:32 mark of the first half as Arizona’s lead stretched to 15.
The Mountaineers would then catch fire from the field, making six straight field goals, as they went on a 9-0 run, cutting Arizona’s lead to just five as the Wildcats called a timeout with 2:31 to play. During the run, Sencire Harris made back-to-back threes, the second time in as many games he’s knocked down two triples after missing his first 28 3-point attempts of the season.
Arizona would respond soon thereafter, going on a 9-0 run across a 2:40 stretch, as a KJ Lewis 3-pointer put Arizona in front 62-47 and forced a Mountaineer timeout with 9:46 to play.
On Arizona's run, the Mountaineers struggled to stop them on the glass. The Wildcats were able to get second and third chances as well as seemingly got to almost every 50-50 ball. The Wildcats finished the game with nine second-chance points as well as owned the rebounding advantage, 40-31.
In the end, West Virginia's defense was unable to slow down the guard play of Arizona.
Between Jaden Bradley, Caleb Love, and Lewis, they scored a combined 45 points.
Arizona scored 36 points in the paint, and their seven 3-pointers made were tied for the second most they've made this season. Arizona shot 51 percent from the field, which was the best an opponent has shot from the field against WVU. this season.
West Virginia turned the ball over 10 times, leading to 15 points for the Wildcats. The Mountaineers shot 36 percent from the field and went 8-for-29 from beyond the arc.
West Virginia was dealt with more unfortunate injury news pregame as KJ Tenner was out due to an injury he suffered against Oklahoma State on Saturday. Tenner joined Tucker DeVries and Jayden Stone as Mountaineers to be out due to injury.
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