Takeaways from West Virginia’s first loss of the season

For the majority of the game on Thursday night, it was not pretty for West Virginia. The Mountaineers struggled on both sides of the ball and were constantly in foul trouble. West Virginia lost to No. 24 Purdue, 80-68, while the Mountaineers had chances to get back into the game.

Foul Trouble, Foul Trouble, Foul Trouble

By no means was dealing with 7-foot-4 Zach Edey going to be easy for West Virginia, but their bigs of Jimmy Bell, Mohamed Wague, Tre Mitchell, and James Okonkwo did them no favors in the way they played on defense. All but Okonkwo were in constant foul trouble, with Bell and Mitchell having four fouls early in the second half. Bell’s bigger frame was able to deal with Edey a lot better, while Mitchell added another element to stopping Edey that Wague and Okonkwo lacked. The Mountaineers were also hurt by Kedrian Johnson picking up an early two fouls in the first half. West Viriginia sent Purdue to the free throw line 28 times, and they scored 24 points from the line.

Lack of Identity on Offense

There seemed to be much confusion when West Virginia would run offense against Purdue. Multiple possessions either had passes that seemed to go to the wrong place or shots that were just off. Some of that is the Edey affect, with him controlling the lane, the Mountaineers hesitated to drive it right into Edey. The Mountaineers had standout performances from Erik Stevenson and Joe Toussaint, who scored 17 and 16 points respectively.

Going Forward

West Virginia will have to better develop their front court if they want to compete in the Big 12. The Mountaineers will usually not have the toughest of whistles such as they had last night. West Virginia can’t have Bell, Mitchell, and Wague in foul trouble. Okonkwo has not taken enough of a step forward to be able to produce at a high level across 15 minutes of play such as he did last night.

The biggest thing for West Virginia which is a positive going forward is their ability to fight. The Mountaineers never quit and got enough stops to get back into the game. They trailed by four with about five minutes left, but they were unable to fully get over the hump and get back into the game. West Virginia’s fight is a good sign. Most nights they will not shoot 5 for 22 from three-point range, and most nights their opponents won’t make eight of their 17 three-pointers.