Five Thoughts on West Virginia’s 77-60 Win Over Oklahoma State

BOX SCORE

We are three games into the Big 12 season and it’s already getting difficult to not just copy-paste what was written in the five thoughts from the previous game. Oklahoma State got drilled in Morgantown on Saturday by No. 17 West Virginia which moved its record on the season to 14-1.

The Mountaineers used 18 offensive rebounds and took advantage of 16 Oklahoma State turnovers to beat the Cowboys 77 to 60. Oklahoma State played without Tyree Griffin (concussion) and Anthony Allen (team rules). Jawun Evans had 13 points, four rebounds, five assists and a steal for the Pokes. Here are five (brief) thoughts.

1. Rebounding — where is it?

Chris Olivier and Mitch Solomon — two of OSU’s big men — combined for two boards in 28 minutes against West Virginia. West Virginia had 43 offensive shots in which a rebound was up for grabs. OSU got 25 of those and WVU got 18. How is this possible? I mean, I know the mechanics of why this is possible (that is very obvious) so I suppose my question is rhetorical in nature, but you aren’t going to beat any Big 12 teams if they’re getting bunnies at home on offensive rebounds. Not even TCU.

2. Oklahoma State actually shot it well

One very large problem if you’re an OSU fan is the shooting percentages the Cowboys put up on Saturday: 43 percent from the field | 33 percent from three. Why is this a problem? Because those are actually pretty good numbers and they still got rocked by 17 (and it could have been 27). That’s what 16 turnovers and no ability to flip the momentum defensively will do to you.

3. That zone defense

Travis Ford recruits athletes. He clearly doesn’t recruit grown men like Devin Williams for WVU. But when you recruit athletes, you need to allow them to run and swarm and generally be athletes. Because Anthony Allen and Tyree Griffin didn’t make the trip and Phil Forte is still injured, Ford was unable to do this.

He had to resort to a zone defense which is predicated upon having big men who can push guys around and get quick outlets to Jawun Evans and Jeff Newberry. This method of operation was completely nonexistent for OSU on Saturday.

4. Free throw shooting is abysmal

The only thing unaffected by not having either a. top-tier talent or b. a full squad in any given game should be your free throw shooting. Oklahoma State was 18/30 on Saturday (Jeff Newberry was 1/5). Sixty percent on freebies. That is not good.

5. This will almost definitely get worse

It’s not like there’s this great hope in sight in the future either. Phil Forte is cooked for the year, the Big 12 is completely loaded and (to top it all off) OU has potentially its best or second best team in 30 years. OSU won’t lose out, but it could, and that’s nearly as bad as if it actually happened.

#Bedlam is in Stillwater Wednesday. There will be more #Sooners fans than #OKstate fans & they may stripe the stadium. Rock bottom for Ford.

— Carson Cunningham (@KOCOCarson) January 9, 2016

Next game: Bedlam at home on Wednesday