West Virginia kept it close early, but a three-point barrage from No. 9 Baylor sent West Virginia back home with a 79-67 loss to end a two-game Texas road trip.
For the second time in two days, things looked pretty bad for the Mountaineers. This time instead of the West Virginia offense struggling, it was the Mountaineer defense getting exploited. Baylor went 14 for 27 from beyond the arc, with LJ Cryer making eight of them and scoring a game-high 26 points.
The Mountaineers kept things interesting in the beginning, as West Virginia was trapping the ball screen and forced multiple turnovers early leading to Mountaineer points.
West Virginia head coach turned to his bench in a different way on Monday. Second off the bench was true freshman Josiah Harris and not far from behind him was Pat Suemnick. Both Harris and Suemnick gave Huggins solid minutes off the bench against Texas on Saturday, but with Suemnick in the lineup with Jimmy Bell, the Mountaineer offense went stagnant.
With 8:04 to play, former Mountaineer Jalen Bridges made a three-pointer from the right corner to give the Bears a 20-18 lead and force a WVU timeout. The Mountaineers were toying with this lineup and had not scored in the past 3:34. The offense would score only two field goals over the final 11:37 of the first half, but getting to the free throw line, and trailed 36-29 going into the locker room.
On the very first possession of the second half, it was more of the same from Baylor. Cryer made two three-pointers to start the half for Baylor, before the Bears went on an 11-2 run. Cyrer made a pair of threes during the run, while Adam Flagler — the reigning Big 12 Player of the Week — capped it off with Baylor’s 11th three of the night, putting them ahead by 16 with 13:43 to play.
West Virginia would seem to threaten to get back into the game but would never be able to fully do so. With just under six minutes to play, Kedrian Johnson had a straight drive to the basket but was unable to convert on the open layup. On the other end just seconds later, Baylor’s Langston Love hit a three-pointer. What could have been a 10-point deficit turned into a 15-point deficit and it was then only a matter of time.
West Virginia was once again led by Emmitt Matthews offensively. Matthews scored 17 points, going 7 for 10 from the field, and finishing with five rebounds. Joe Toussaint was the only other Mountaineer to reach double-digits, scoring 11 points off the bench for WVU.
Baylor was led by Cryer’s 26 points, while Flagler finished with 13, and Bridges had 12. The Bears made 26 shots from the field, with 14 of them coming from beyond the arc. Both teams turned the ball over 13 times, while Baylor has now won their 10th game in their last 11 contests.
West Virginia returns home for a two-game homestand, having to beat both Texas Tech and Oklahoma State to keep their NCAA Tournament hopes alive.
