Preview: West Virginia

Photo Attribution: USATSI

Vitals

Tip: 1:00 PM CST
Location: Morgantown, WV
TV: ESPN2
Online Stream: here
Radio: Cowboy Radio Network
Online radio: here
Announcers: Jon Sciambi and Fran Fraschilla
Line: Cowboys -3.5

Records

Cowboys – 19-6 (9-4)
Fightin’ Holgys – 13-13 (6-7)

Best win

Cowboys – Kansas (KenPom: #11)
Fightin’ Holgys – Texas (KenPom: #98)

Worst loss

Cowboys – Virginia Tech (KenPom: #162)
Fightin’ Holgys – Duquesne (KenPom: #232)

KenPom rank

Cowboys – #16
Fightin’ Holgys – #108

Data nerds

[table id=99 /]

Adj. efficiency – Points per 100 possessions (adjusted for quality of opponent and site of game).
Adj. tempo – Possessions per game (adjusted for schedule and pace of other team).
Effective FG % – Takes into account extra value of 3s.

Three things to watch

1. Trappity trap trap trap – This is a bad, bad spot for OSU. Snuggled between the war against KU at home and the (hopefully) gimme in Fort Worth next Wednesday is a 1,000-mile trip to the hills of West Virginia where the ghosts of Mike Gansey and Kevin Pittsnogle lay claim.

Honestly, if we didn’t have Marcus Smart, I’d be picking Huggy Bear’s boys for this one. Smart cares too much though. It means too much to him. Remember though, WVU had KU on the ropes on Big Monday a few weeks ago. Wouldn’t be surprised to see the same today.

2. Eron is on? – Honestly, the boar eater doesn’t worry me. Jurick can handle him, or somebody can throw the skinned femur of a recently-slain coyote and we’ll be fine. The dude that scares me is Eron Harris. He had five threes in Stillwater and has been balling ever since. Here are his games since then:

Kansas – 2 points
Tech – 18
Texas – 13
TCU – 14
Baylor – 19
Tech – 15
KSU – 0 (fouled out in 8 minutes)

And he gives a crap, which is probably more than you can say about most of West Virginia’s team.

3. Forte’s value – We’ve been over this extensively — Phil Forte is not on point right now. Below is his 3-point FG% as the season has gone on. Not pretty. The problem for OSU is that last time they played WVU he hit six treys, all of them necessary for a 14-point OSU win. Here’s to the youngster getting back on track today.

StatSheet.com

Last time

The last time OSU played in Morgantown was…never.

Prediction

Porter: Pokes – 71-63
KenPom: Cowboys – 68-61