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01-10-2018, 07:28 AM
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. â Second-ranked West Virginia didn't make a lot of shots, but it made just enough of them to hang on for a tough, 57-54 victory over upset-minded Baylor tonight at the WVU Coliseum.
Jevon Carter's 3-pointer near the Mountaineer bench with 56 seconds remaining gave West Virginia a 54-51 lead. At the other end, Manu Lecomte missed his 3-point try, which was rebounded by James Bolden. Lecomte fouled Carter with 23 seconds left to send Carter to the line with an opportunity to give WVU a two-possession lead.
He missed the front end of the one-and-one but Sagaba Konate grabbed the rebound and got the ball out to Daxter Miles Jr. He was fouled by Lecomte with 16 seconds left and Miles Jr. only managed to get one of two to go down to make it 55-51.
Jake Lindsey's 3 with six seconds left allowed Baylor to call timeout to set up its defense, trailing by one. Tyson Jolly fouled Carter on the inbounds play and Carter sank both free throws with four seconds remaining.
Baylor coach Scott Drew tried the old Valparaiso play his father Homer Drew once used successfully in the 1998 NCAA Tournament to defeat Ole Miss. Lecomte was the recipient of the mid-court relay pass from Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. but his 3-point shot to tie the game from near the Baylor bench hit the other side of the backboard.
West Virginia (15-1, 4-0) never led by more than four and didn't take its first lead until the beginning of the second half on a Lamont West jumper.
"We didn't have that energy; we didn't have that energy in practice and we didn't have that bounce," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said afterward. "But I think we will be better now that we're back in class and on a schedule."
Baylor (11-5, 1-3) led by as many as nine in the first half when West Virginia was struggling to make shots, but the Bears weren't making many either and couldn't shake free.
Trailing 24-17 after Lual-Acuil Jr.'s stick-back basket, the Mountaineers got back-to-back 3s from West and reserve guard Chase Harler to make it a three-point game, 26-23.
Harler's 3 came after Konate made a fantastic block on Terry Maston's driving layup. Konate was able to grab the ball before it hit the glass and that basketball made its way down the floor to Harler standing wide open in the corner.
Konate eventually tied the game at 26 on a short jumper with 1:50 left and it remained tied at 29 at the break.
Both teams struggled close to the basket, West Virginia converting on 31.1 percent of its field goal tries (19 of 61) and Baylor connecting on 35.8 percent of its 53 field goal attempts. Both were considerably better away from the basket behind the 3-point arc, however; West Virginia made 10-of-25 for 40 percent and Baylor hit 8-of-21 for 38.1 percent.
"We didn't pass the ball," Huggins said of his team's offensive difficulties. "You don't dribble against a zone and we spent two days working on passing the ball.
"They're talented. The big guy (Lual-Acuil Jr.) in front of the goal changes a lot of things," Huggins added.
Miles Jr. and West scored 12 each for West Virginia, while Konate added 8 points with 12 rebounds and had a career-high seven blocks.
Despite hitting just 3-of-14 from the floor, Konate was the player Huggins wanted to run offense through late in the game and his basket off the glass with 3:28 remaining snapped a four-minute field goal drought for the Mountaineers.
Freshman Teddy Allen, who scored 57 points in his first three Big 12 games against Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Oklahoma, missed all three of his shot attempts and played just five minutes because of foul trouble.
"I think Teddy found out this isn't high school," Huggins said. "He had as many blocked as he could get off."
Getting the majority of the minutes in Allen's place was Harler, who scored 7, grabbed three offensive rebounds and made some big hustle plays to keep possessions alive.
Lecomte scored 13 and Lual-Acuil Jr. added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears. Baylor turned the ball over 21 times, which led to 20 of West Virginia's 57 points. Both teams came into tonight's contest averaging better than 80 points per game.
"Sometimes you have to find a way to win one when you don't play very well ⦠and we didn't play very well tonight," Huggins said.
The attendance for tonight's game was announced as 12,551.
West Virginia, owners of the nation's longest winning streak at 15 games, is back out on the road Saturday afternoon to face eighth-ranked Texas Tech, which lost by 10 earlier tonight at No. 9 Oklahoma.
The Red Raiders defeated West Virginia 77-76 in Lubbock in overtime last year.
Junior forward Esa Ahmad will be available for the Mountaineers and Huggins said following tonight's game he plans to use him a lot. Ahmad sat out the first 16 games of the season serving an NCAA-imposed suspension.
"We're going to play him. He's practiced every day. He obviously knows what we're doing," Huggins said. "I think conditioning initially will be a little bit of a problem but other than that he's up to snuff on what we're doing."
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Jevon Carter's 3-pointer near the Mountaineer bench with 56 seconds remaining gave West Virginia a 54-51 lead. At the other end, Manu Lecomte missed his 3-point try, which was rebounded by James Bolden. Lecomte fouled Carter with 23 seconds left to send Carter to the line with an opportunity to give WVU a two-possession lead.
He missed the front end of the one-and-one but Sagaba Konate grabbed the rebound and got the ball out to Daxter Miles Jr. He was fouled by Lecomte with 16 seconds left and Miles Jr. only managed to get one of two to go down to make it 55-51.
Jake Lindsey's 3 with six seconds left allowed Baylor to call timeout to set up its defense, trailing by one. Tyson Jolly fouled Carter on the inbounds play and Carter sank both free throws with four seconds remaining.
Baylor coach Scott Drew tried the old Valparaiso play his father Homer Drew once used successfully in the 1998 NCAA Tournament to defeat Ole Miss. Lecomte was the recipient of the mid-court relay pass from Jo Lual-Acuil Jr. but his 3-point shot to tie the game from near the Baylor bench hit the other side of the backboard.
West Virginia (15-1, 4-0) never led by more than four and didn't take its first lead until the beginning of the second half on a Lamont West jumper.
"We didn't have that energy; we didn't have that energy in practice and we didn't have that bounce," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said afterward. "But I think we will be better now that we're back in class and on a schedule."
Baylor (11-5, 1-3) led by as many as nine in the first half when West Virginia was struggling to make shots, but the Bears weren't making many either and couldn't shake free.
Trailing 24-17 after Lual-Acuil Jr.'s stick-back basket, the Mountaineers got back-to-back 3s from West and reserve guard Chase Harler to make it a three-point game, 26-23.
Harler's 3 came after Konate made a fantastic block on Terry Maston's driving layup. Konate was able to grab the ball before it hit the glass and that basketball made its way down the floor to Harler standing wide open in the corner.
Konate eventually tied the game at 26 on a short jumper with 1:50 left and it remained tied at 29 at the break.
Both teams struggled close to the basket, West Virginia converting on 31.1 percent of its field goal tries (19 of 61) and Baylor connecting on 35.8 percent of its 53 field goal attempts. Both were considerably better away from the basket behind the 3-point arc, however; West Virginia made 10-of-25 for 40 percent and Baylor hit 8-of-21 for 38.1 percent.
"We didn't pass the ball," Huggins said of his team's offensive difficulties. "You don't dribble against a zone and we spent two days working on passing the ball.
"They're talented. The big guy (Lual-Acuil Jr.) in front of the goal changes a lot of things," Huggins added.
Miles Jr. and West scored 12 each for West Virginia, while Konate added 8 points with 12 rebounds and had a career-high seven blocks.
Despite hitting just 3-of-14 from the floor, Konate was the player Huggins wanted to run offense through late in the game and his basket off the glass with 3:28 remaining snapped a four-minute field goal drought for the Mountaineers.
Freshman Teddy Allen, who scored 57 points in his first three Big 12 games against Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Oklahoma, missed all three of his shot attempts and played just five minutes because of foul trouble.
"I think Teddy found out this isn't high school," Huggins said. "He had as many blocked as he could get off."
Getting the majority of the minutes in Allen's place was Harler, who scored 7, grabbed three offensive rebounds and made some big hustle plays to keep possessions alive.
Lecomte scored 13 and Lual-Acuil Jr. added 11 points and 10 rebounds for the Bears. Baylor turned the ball over 21 times, which led to 20 of West Virginia's 57 points. Both teams came into tonight's contest averaging better than 80 points per game.
"Sometimes you have to find a way to win one when you don't play very well ⦠and we didn't play very well tonight," Huggins said.
The attendance for tonight's game was announced as 12,551.
West Virginia, owners of the nation's longest winning streak at 15 games, is back out on the road Saturday afternoon to face eighth-ranked Texas Tech, which lost by 10 earlier tonight at No. 9 Oklahoma.
The Red Raiders defeated West Virginia 77-76 in Lubbock in overtime last year.
Junior forward Esa Ahmad will be available for the Mountaineers and Huggins said following tonight's game he plans to use him a lot. Ahmad sat out the first 16 games of the season serving an NCAA-imposed suspension.
"We're going to play him. He's practiced every day. He obviously knows what we're doing," Huggins said. "I think conditioning initially will be a little bit of a problem but other than that he's up to snuff on what we're doing."
http://wvusports.com/news/2018/1/9/mens-...a-row.aspx
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