College Basketball Power 10: Big 12 Continues To Dominate
By Jeremy Karll
8. West Virginia (15-2)
After suffering their second loss of the season on a late three that gave Texas Tech a 77-76 win, West Virginia responded with three straight wins, two by double-digits. They took their anger of losing out on TCU with an 82-70 victory and then handed Baylor a historic loss.
In Baylor’s first-ever game ranked No. 1 in the nation, West Virginia hosted the Bears and demolished them. The Mountaineers won 89-68 in a game Baylor never led.
It was evidently an off-night for Baylor, but West Virginia tore apart a team who has dominated multiple ranked teams this year.
In fact, instead of a characteristic second half Baylor run, the Mountaineers went on a 10-2 run midway through the second half to take a 17-point lead and put Baylor away.
West Virginia showed their balance on offense with eight players scoring at least five points, as well as their stifling defense, as they held Baylor to 44.6 percent shooting and 28.6 percent shooting from three.
They could easily be 17-0 right now but staying focused against beatable teams has been their downfall this season. West Virginia had a let down game against Texas later in the week, but they still survived 74-72 on the road.
West Virginia hosts Oklahoma and travels to Kansas State this week.