West Virginia men’s basketball lost 86-73 to No. 22 BYU on Saturday and the Mountaineers have now hit their bye week.
The loss to BYU had distinct takeaways from the idea that analytics work in basketball and that the Mountaineers can’t win with a two-man show.
Analytics Work. Just Ask BYU
For anyone who might have watched BYU play for the first time, they shoot an uncharacteristic number of three-pointers. If you noticed that, it’s because they do, and there is a reason for it. BYU shoots 33.3 three-pointers a game, the most in Division I. In the same breath, they also are making more three-pointers than any team in the country at 12.1 per game, which is also first in all of college basketball.
BYU shot 36 three-pointers and made 13 against WVU. That’s 39 of their 86 points coming from long distance. It also means, they shot 19 for 30 from two, making 63 percent of their two-point-attempts. If you look at KenPom and the way they break down BYU’s offense, they play better on offense than most teams in the country.
KenPom has the Cougars ranked 8th in adjusted offensive efficiency, which ranked the number of points scored per 100 possessions. They have them ranked 4th in effective field goal percentage, which takes into account a team’s regular shooting percentage, except you get 50% more credit for made three’s. They are also fourth in the country in percentage of makes on their two-point-attempts.
All of this goes to show that what the Cougars do is smart and calculated. They would rather take a chance at a shot for a chance to score more points and they are able to spread teams out enough, where they are taking high quality looks from inside the three-point line. Will the shots fall every single game — no. Will you give your team a chance to win if you are calculated in how you run offense — yes.
“We’re an elite level two-point shooting team, because we really try to turn down difficult two’s,” Pope said. “We turn them down for shots we’re more believing in,” BYU head coach Mark Pope said after the game. “That results in us being a really high percentage two-point shooting team and having the chance to get up more three’s.”
The point of all this is to say that analytics are able to help teams like BYU, who are not perennial powerhouses compete in places like the Big 12. It also shows that if WVU moves on from Josh Eilert after this season, having a coach with an analytical background can help WVU figure out what works best compared to what doesn’t for their given group.
Need More Than Two
Two isn’t enough for West Virginia, meaning they need three scoring options.
This past weekend, WVU had Kerr Kriisa score 23 on 8-for-14 shooting, and had Jesse Edwards score 16 on 7-for-9 shooting. The rest of the Mountaineers went 13-for-43 (30 percent) from the field in the loss. WVU needs more efficient production outside of one or two guys on a nightly basis in order to win these types of games.
While RaeQuan Battle scored 14 points, he did so by getting up 15 shots. Quinn Slazinski scored four points and took 11 shots. Those two played the second and third most minutes out of any Mountaineer this past weekend, and going forward WVU is going to need a third option in these types of games who can be more efficient.
However, a positive way to look at this is down the stretch, the Mountaineers tried to ride the hot hands of Edwards and Kriisa. WVU attempted 14 shots over the final 10:15 and made eight of them. Nine of the attempts came from that duo and six of the makes came from them as well.
Standings Shuffle Following Loss
WVU had a chance to get to 4-5 in the Big 12 and that would’ve put them firmly in the middle of the pack. With the loss, they’re now 3-6 and only a game up on last place Oklahoma State. If WVU wants to possibly make noise in Kansas City, they are going to have to secure a top-10 seed and avoid having to play on the first day of the tournament.
The Mountaineers are going to have to find a way to win away from home and they need their bye week to help with their team chemistry because things aren’t looking great for the Mountaineers in the Big 12 standings.
