West Virginia heads to Baylor as they look to halt their recent slide of losses.
WVSports.com offers a look at some key elements of the match-up to get you ready for tip-off.
SERIES: Baylor leads 17-8
LAST MEETING: Feb. 17, 2024 in Morgantown — Baylor 94, WVU 81
TELEVISION: ESPN2 (Chuckie Kempf / King McClure)
TIP-OFF: 2:00 p.m. ET
COACHES
Darian DeVries, West Virginia
15-9 (1st season at WVU), 165-64 (7th season overall)
Scott Drew, Baylor
459-253 (22nd season at Baylor), 479-264 (23rd season overall)
LAST TIME OUT
Baylor is coming into Saturday off a 76-65 loss to Houston. The Bears were outscored by only three points in the second half, but they had an eight-point deficit at halftime. Baylor went 9-for-15 from beyond the arc and made 58 percent of their shots. They turned the ball over 15 times, leading to 28 points for Houston.
The Mountaineers enter Saturday off a 73-69 home loss to BYU. WVU led by two at halftime, but their offense struggled late in the contest, while BYU made 56 percent of their shots from the field in the second half. The Mountaineers were led by Toby Okani who had 16 points.
By The Numbers — Team (15-9, 7-6 Big 12)
Baylor boasts one of the better offenses in the Big 12. The Bears are averaging 79.3 points per game this season, while they are shooting 46.2 percent from the field. From beyond the arc, Baylor has the third-best 3-point field goal percentage in the league at 37 percent, while they have the fourth-most made 3-pointers this year.
Over their last five games, the Bears are 2-3. In the two wins, they went a combined 31 percent from beyond the arc. In their three losses, they went a combined 44 percent from 3-point distance.
Defensively, Baylor is 10th in the Big 12 in scoring defense, allowing 69.8 points per game. From the field, Baylor is 14th in opponent field goal percentage, allowing opponents to make 44 percent of their shots from the field. Baylor is 8th in the league in rebounding margin, and 5th in the Big 12 in turnover margin.
Over their last five games, their most frequent lineup on the floor has been Robert O Wright, Jayden Nunn, VJ Edgecombe, Norchad Omier, and Josh Ojianwuna. This lineup has played together 13.1 percent of the time over their last five games.
Omier leads Baylor in scoring at 15.7 points per game, which is also seventh in the Big 12. He has scored at least 16 points in each of his last four games. Edgecombe is right behind Omier at 15.0 points per game this season, and he's also averaging 5.1 rebounds per game. Against Houston, Edgecombe had 14 points and six rebounds. He's scored 20 or more points four times this season.
Baylor comes into the game ranked 26th in the NET and 28th by KenPom. This is considered a Quad 2 game for TCU. They are 4-0 in such games this season, and are 4-8 in Quad 1 games. Baylor is 5-1 in home Big 12 games this season.
By The Numbers — West Virginia (15-9, 6-7 Big 12)
West Virginia's offense has reached their highest point total in consecutive games over their last two games since they scored 79 and 84 against N.C. Central and Bethune-Cookman in December. The Mountaineers are 15th in the Big 12 in scoring offense at 69 points per game, but have scored 72 and 69 points in their last two games respectively, after not scoring more than 64 points in a game since they faced Colorado on Jan. 12.
WVU is second in the Big 12 in scoring defense and fourth in opponent field goal percentage. From beyond the arc, WVU continues to excel, as they are holding opponents to 29.2 percent on 3-pointers which is second in the Big 12. WVU is last in rebounding margin with -3.6 as their average margin per game. Their turnover margin is fourth in the league at +2.67.
Over their last five games, their most frequent lineup on the floor has been Javon Small, Sencire Harris, Jonathan Powell, Toby Okani, and Amani Hansberry. This lineup has been used 23.9 percent of the time in that span.
WVU's leading scorer is Small, who is averaging 18.5 points per game. He is currently second in the Big 12 in scoring as he's scored a combined 23 points over WVU's last two games. Hansberry leads WVU in rebounding at 6.0 rebounds per game this season. Small is second among active players on the roster with 4.4 per game.
West Virginia is ranked 43rd in the NET, and 47th by KenPom. This is considered a Quad 1 game for WVU as the Mountaineers are 5-6 in such games this year with their most recent win being on the road against Cincinnati.
Standings Implications
Baylor is currently a game ahead of WVU in the Big 12 standings. Baylor is 11-1 at home this season, while the Mountaineers are 3-4 on the road.
Baylor is one of three teams that are 7-6 in the league, as they are in a tie for sixth place. WVU is in a two-way tie with TCU at 6-7 for 9th place. The two teams tied with Baylor (BYU and Kansas State) play each other, while TCU faces Arizona State on the road.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @wesleyshoe
