The West Virginia Mountaineers (15-10, 6-8) host the Cincinnati Bearcats (15-10, 5-9) Wednesday night for the second meeting between the two teams this season. Tip-off is set for 7:00 p.m. EST and the action will broadcast on ESPN2.
This is a must-win for the Mountaineers, to say the least. They’ve dropped two straight, and they have a road trip to Texas Tech on deck. It’s also the third straight game against a fellow NCAA Tournament bubble team, and if you want to hear your name called on Selection Sunday, you can’t go 0-3 against said teams, especially late in the season.
Defense has been the engine to success for West Virginia this season, and when these two last met, they were locked in on that end of the floor. Cincinnati, for the most part this year, has been a poor offensive team. Over the last four games, they’ve been scoring it at a much higher clip, in large part to the 22-point per game output by sophomore guard Jizzle James.
Much like the first matchup in the Queen City, this has the feeling of a rock fight, and those types of games play into West Virginia’s style. They held Cincinnati to 31% shooting from the field and forced 14 turnovers in the win earlier this month. This is a night where Sencire Harris should and needs to shine.
It won’t be pretty, but then again, does it really matter? At this point, WVU is just searching for wins, and tonight, I believe they’ll get one.
Prediction record: 16-9
West Virgina has lost by a slim margin in its last three loss, with the average margin of defeat of four points. With the error of margin razor thin, every area of this addition of the Mountaineer basketball team has been under the microscope.
The defense has been a steady topic of conversation, and the message has been clear, this year’s edition must play a high-level of defense for 40 minutes to win games and holding teams to under 44% from the field is the mark for success with a 14-3 record.
However, free throw disparity has recently entered the discussion with opponents shooting, on average, 14 more attempts from the charity stripe in the last three losses. Nonetheless, WVU head coach Darian DeVries noted it was a lack of fundamentals, stating, “It’s just a matter of cleaning up those little reach fouls.”
DeVries has a point, and the Mountaineers can only control what they can control, and despite the discrepancies, WVU will have to remain more the disciplined team at home or on the road, because they have not received the benefit of the doubt despite the venue.
West Virginia has not let adversity disparage its efforts, and despite the verge of suffering its second losing streak of the season, I believe the Mountaineers will dig deep and will be the last team standing in an old fashioned Big East street fight. WVU outlasts Cincinnati 61-60.
Prediction record: 16-9
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