West Virginia women’s basketball head coach Dawn Plitzuweit will enter Big 12 play for the first time coming off an impressive close to the Mountaineers’ non-conference portion of their schedule.
Before the Christmas break, West Virginia women’s basketball headed to the West Palm Beach Invitational where the Mountianeers picked up two wins.
“I thought we did a really good job of competing when we were down in Florida,” Plitzuweit said.
The first win was a 49-45 victory over Georgia, in which the Mountaineers trailed by as many as 16 points. West Virginia’s defense stepped up in the second half though, as they held Georgia to just four made baskets the entire second half.
“Certainly the Georgia game was a game where I thought we played hard and I thought we finished plays at a very high level in that game,” Plitzuweit said. “That’s something that we’ve seen in other games during stretches and that was a game we saw that for longer stretches of the game and that was really good. We found a way to come back and defensively we were very, very solid.”
West Virginia’s offense was also able to shine in the second half, led by Danni Nichols who had a team-high 13 points. West Virginia had 28 points in the paint against Georgia, scoring 57% of their points close to the basket.
“I thought offensively we attacked really early in the game and did a really god job against some of their press kind of looks and got to the rim,” Plitzuweit said.
The Mountaineers would not be done on their trip down south though, as they would beat Miami (OH) the next day, 82-51. West Virginia commanded the first quarter, leading 19-5 after the first 10 minutes. Miami would keep it close in the second and third quarters, as Miami out-scored West Virginia by a one point in the second and third quarter combined.
“Miami game, I thought we started theme and finished the game really well,” Plitzuweit said. “We did a good job defensively in terms of Miami didn’t hit a field goal in the first quarter of the game. In the fourth quarter we did a good job, in the second , third quarters we didn’t have the same discipline defensively that we needed to have.”
In West Virginia’s two games in Florida, the Mountaineers forced a combined 36 turnovers leading to 41 points.
Now West Virginia heads to Big 12 play as the Mountaineers host No. 20 Oklahoma. Oklahoma has the Big 12’s best offense, scoring 87.5 points per game, while West Virginia has the conference’s best defense, with opponents scoring just 50.3 points per game.
“What’s really impressive is not only do they shoot really well and score it really efficiently, but they also hit the offensive glass at a really high level,” Plitzuweit said. “Something that is really different and unique about them is they like to push it and score quickly… but they’re in transition over 30 percent of the game, which in the year’s that I’ve coached I don’t remember seeing a number that high.”
West Virginia and Oklahoma will tip-off at 2 p.m. on New Year’s Eve from the WVU Coliseum and the game will be televised on ESPN+.
