West Virginia finishes road trip at Oklahoma State

West Virginia (14-7, 5-5)  travels to Stillwater, Oklahoma, to take on the Cowgirls on Wednesday night, February 7th. The game concludes a two game road trip through the state of Oklahoma for the Mountaineers, who were defeated by Oklahoma 93-68 on Saturday.

Oklahoma State (16-7. 6-5) is coming off of an away win against TCU, where they defeated the Horned Frogs 77-65. The Cowgirls had four players score in double figures in the game, with fifth year senior guard Naomie Alnatas leading the way with 20 points, 4 rebounds and 5 assists. 

West Virginia is looking to stop a two game skid, where they dropped games against No. 20 Oklahoma and No. 24 Texas, both by double figures. The Mountaineers got two great individual performances in the loss to the Sooners, with JJ Quinerly scoring 24 points on 9-16 shooting, and Madisen Smith scoring 19 points, including five three pointers in the loss. The duo combined for 43 of the Mountaineers 68 points in the defeat. 

West Virginia and Oklahoma State have met 24 times previously, with WVU holding a 14-10 lead in the series. Oklahoma State holds a 6-5 record when the two meet in Stillwater however. 

The key for West Virginia will be getting back to its defensive ways. Despite allowing 93 points last game, the Mountaineers are still third in the Big 12 in scoring defense, holding their opponents to 59.6 points per game. West Virginia also leads the conference in turnover margin (6.81) and steals (10.0). West Virginia will need to force the Cowgirls to cough the ball up often and convert on points off turnovers to end their slide.

The West Virginia defense will look to stop a balanced Cowgirls offensive attack that sees five players average double figures, Naomie Alnatas (13.8), Lior Garzon (11.5), Claire Chastain (11.0), Terryn Milton (10.1) and Lexy Keys (10.0). The West Virginia defense will have to stop the perimeter, with the Cowgirls having two players in the top 10 of the Big 12 in three pointers made per game, with Lior Garzon (2.5), and Naomi Alnatas (2.3). Oklahoma State as a team leads the Big 12 in three point percentage (37%). West Virginia is second in the conference in opponent three point percentage, forcing their opponents to shoot just 28% from three.

West Virginia will also need to do a better job on the boards, losing the rebounding advantage against Oklahoma (41-26) and Texas (39-25). Texas and Oklahoma combined for 28 offensive rebounds in the two games, and West Virginia will have to limit second chance opportunities against Oklahoma State. West Virginia is last in the Big 12 in limiting opponent rebounding (39.2), ninth in team rebounding (34.8) and ninth in rebounding margin (-4.4).

The game is set for a 7:30 tip-off at Gallagher-Iba Arena and will be available to stream on ESPN+.

Photo by Aaron Parker