West Virginia fell to Central Florida 72-59 and had very evident offensive struggles which UCF took full advantage of.
WVU had its lowest-scoring performance since an 89-55 loss against Houston on Jan. 6 and its fourth lowest-scoring game of the season just a few days removed from arguably their best offensive performance in an upset win over now No. 7 Kansas.
The Mountaineers shot just 36.2% from the field and a lackluster 60% from the free-throw line on just 10 attempts.
WVU committed 11 turnovers, the same amount as the Knights, but UCF converted those turnovers into 18 points compared to just five points off turnovers for West Virginia.
Central Florida was able to claim 10 steals and made seven blocks against WVU.
With center Jesse Edwards still not appearing in the rotation, the Mountaineers were out-rebounded by UCF 45-34 including 11 offensive rebounds which helped them score 13 second-chance points.
The Knights had 24 fast break points and didn’t trail once during the game.
Jaylin Sellers was their leading scorer with 18 points, shooting 5-11 from the field and 3-6 from the arc.
With RaeQuan Battle ending with just five points before getting ejected due to two technicals and Pat Suemnick shooting 0-6 from the field scoring no points before fouling out, West Virginia got over half their points from the bench (38) including their leading scorer Josiah Harris with 15.
The Mountaineers are yet to win a game outside of the Coliseum this season (0-7) but will have an opportunity to change that and bounce back at Oklahoma State, who currently sits at the bottom of the Big 12 (0-5 in conference play) on Saturday.
