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Baylor Basketball

Gameday Thread: #12 Baylor (18-6; 7-4) at West Virginia (8-16; 3-8)

February 15, 2024
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#12 Baylor (18-6; 7-4) travels to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on the West Virginia Mountaineers (8-16; 3-8) on February 17th at 5pm CST.  The game will be televised on ESPN2.  

KenPom Prediction:  Baylor 78 West Virginia 68

Torvik Prediction:  Baylor 77 West Virginia 68

Evan Miyakawa:  Baylor 80 West Virginia 69

Haslametrics:  Baylor 76 West Virginia 66


Coaches

West Virginia:  Josh Eilert (43) 8-16

Baylor:  Scott Drew (53); 459-249 overall (439-238 at Baylor); 11 NCAAs; 5 Sweet 16s; 3 Elite 8s; FF; 1 National Championship

Head to Head:  0-0


West Virginia Starters

Guard:  Kerr Kriisa (SR) 6-3 185 lbs; 11 ppg; 3 reb; 5 asst; 43% FG; 43% 3pt; 79% FT

Guard:  Kobe Johnson (JR) 6-3 205 lbs; 6 ppg; 2 reb; 2 asst; 39% FG; 25% 3pt; 81% FT

Guard:  Raequan Battle (SR) 6-5 195 lbs; 16 ppg; 4 reb; 39% FG; 28% 3pt; 79% FT

Forward:  Quinn Slazinski (SR) 6-9 230 lbs; 13 ppg; 4 reb; 41% FG; 32% 3pt; 76% FT

Forward:  Jesse Edwards (SR) 6-11 240 lbs; 14 ppg; 8 reb; 2 blks; 57% FG; 61% FT


West Virginia Bench

Guard:  Noah Farrakhan (SR) 6-1 170 lbs; 10 ppg; 4 reb; 2 asst; 39% FG; 30% 3pt; 77% FT

Forward:  Patrick Suemnick (SR) 6-8 235 lbs; 5 ppg; 3 reb; 54% FG; 50% 3pt; 61% FT

Forward: Akok Akok (SR) 6-10 225 lbs; 4 ppg; 3 reb; 48% FG; 29% 3pt; 53% FT

Forward:  Josiah Harris (SO) 6-7 215 lbs; 5 ppg; 4 reb; 32% FG; 27% 3pt; 87% FT


Baylor Starters

Guard:  RayJ Dennis (SR) 6-3 180 lbs; 13 ppg; 4 reb; 7 asst;  49% FG; 39% 3pt; 68% FT

Guard:  Jayden Nunn (JR) 6-3 190 lbs; 11 ppg; 3 reb; 2 asst; 46% FG; 44% 3pt; 67% FT 

Guard:  Ja’Kobe Walter (FR) 6-5 185 lbs; 14 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst; 39% FG; 33% 3pt; 85% FT

Forward:  Jalen Bridges (JR) 6-9 225 lbs; 11 ppg; 5 reb; 2 asst; 46% FG; 40% 3pt; 87% FT

Forward:  Yves Missi (FR) 6-11 220 lbs; 11 ppg; 6 reb; 2 blocks; 63% FG; 58% FT

Baylor Bench

Guard:  Langston Love (SO) 6-5 210 lbs; 12 ppg; 3 reb; 46% FG; 49% 3pt; 80% FT

Forward:  Caleb Lohner (JR) 6-8 235 lbs; 2 ppg; 2 reb; 54% FG; 25% 3pt; 79% FT

Forward:  Josh Ojianwuna (SO) 6-10 240 lbs; 5 ppg; 3 reb; 78% FG; 61% FT

Guard:  Miro Little (FR) 6-4 185 lbs; 2 ppg; 47% FG; 40% 3pt; 73% FT

Discussion from...

Gameday Thread: #12 Baylor (18-6; 7-4) at West Virginia (8-16; 3-8)

24,116 Views | 212 Replies | Last: 9 mo ago by historian
Quinton
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Still insist to playing down to teams and letting up. Just can't sustain intensity the whole game yet. Disappointing but still good signs overall
Oldbear83
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Way too sloppy here at the end
MashedPotatoes
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Weak finish.
DanaDane
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Why on earth did WVU pony up $500K for Kriisa?
IowaBear
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We have got to learn to close games
Quinton
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DanaDane said:

Don't get lazy on D and let them make a run at this.


You said it. They continue to play with their food.
Oldbear83
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You'd think these fans would have a little better grasp of the rules instead of whining when their guy tackles our player.
DanaDane
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Very happy in particular for RayJ, Jayden and Jalen who all apparently had a lot of family and friends at this game.
boognish_bear
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MashedPotatoes said:

Weak finish.


Yep....looked like we were going to have back to back statement wins...but we peed down our leg the last 10 mins
DanaDane
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And with those FTs by Jalen, all 3 of them finished in double figures. Awesome!!!!!
BearFan33
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Beat the spread on the road. Good job Bears!
Stefano DiMera
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Well.. that clinches our tourney berth with win #8..for those that had us missing the tourney after Texas and TCU loss
Mitch Henessey
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Lighten up, guys. We just scored 94 points on the road in an arena where Texas and KU both got upset. Defense was great early, gotta keep up the intensity late, though.
bear2be2
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DanaDane said:

Why on earth did WVU pony up $500K for Kriisa?
Not sure. He's not a good player and he *****es constantly.
bear2be2
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Mitch Henessey said:

Lighten up, guys. We just scored 94 points on the road in an arena where Texas and KU both got upset. Defense was great early, gotta keep up the intensity late, though.
Agreed. Double-digit road wins are good. There's nothing about this game to be particularly critical about.
DanaDane
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WVU was #155, so that is a Quad 3 win under Net?
bear2be2
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Stefano DiMera said:

Well.. that clinches our tourney berth with win #8..for those that had us missing the tourney after Texas and TCU loss
The only people who really thought we'd miss the tournament were football fans -- and bugwb, who's always negative.

I'm just happy we're playing better basketball. The wins and losses don't matter as much to me as how we're playing because if you're playing well the wins and losses take care of themselves.

I don't mind losing in our league to an opponent that just plays better than us because there are a lot of good players and teams in our conference. But I was getting frustrated watching us struggle against some of the weaker teams on our Big 12 schedule.

The last three or four weeks, though, we've been a different team. Other than our carelessness with the ball in the Kansas game, we've played as well as anyone in the league since the second half of the UCF game. The team we're watching now can do some serious damage in March if we keep improving.
bear2be2
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DanaDane said:

WVU was #155, so that is a Quad 3 win under Net?
Yes. We needed to win just to avoid a bad loss. The win itself won't help us at all in the NET rankings.
DanaDane
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Gonna be a good one Tuesday night in Provo. I really hope Love's ankle allows him to play.
Mitch Henessey
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DanaDane said:

Gonna be a good one Tuesday night in Provo. I really hope Love's ankle allows him to play.
I really doubt we're going to play him for the first time after a long layoff on the road in a super hostile environment, coming off of back-to-back cross country flights, unfortunately. I'd look for him to come back next Saturday versus Houston. We'll definitely need him for that one.
DanaDane
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Probably right. I'm sure they don't want to bring him back to early and potentially aggravate it.
bear2be2
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DanaDane said:

Probably right. I'm sure they don't want to bring him back to early and potentially aggravate it.
And the good thing is we haven't really missed him in any game but the Kansas game. Our other guys have stepped up in his absence, so there hasn't been any pressure to rush him back. Hopefully that trend continues.
MrGolfguy
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W
Johnny Bear
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bear2be2 said:

Mitch Henessey said:

Lighten up, guys. We just scored 94 points on the road in an arena where Texas and KU both got upset. Defense was great early, gotta keep up the intensity late, though.
Agreed. Double-digit road wins are good. There's nothing about this game to be particularly critical about.

I think the quick whistles and the phantom calls took its toll and was a big factor in our D, which was for the most part great in the first half, falling off greatly in the last 10 minutes of the game. Bottom line the team took care of biz against a team they should beat in a B12 road game.
boognish_bear
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Quinton
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DanaDane said:

Gonna be a good one Tuesday night in Provo. I really hope Love's ankle allows him to play.


Our MO is he probably sits. I think that Tuesday game will be incredibly difficult. Get that one and the conference title is in reach.
hitmanmw
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I keep hoping that one of these days Walter will have a decent shooting night. Still waiting. 4-14 from 3 just isn't good enough.
Stefano DiMera
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Mitch Henessey said:

DanaDane said:

Gonna be a good one Tuesday night in Provo. I really hope Love's ankle allows him to play.
I really doubt we're going to play him for the first time after a long layoff on the road in a super hostile environment, coming off of back-to-back cross country flights, unfortunately. I'd look for him to come back next Saturday versus Houston. We'll definitely need him for that one.


Were flying straight to Provo to acclimate tomorrow from Morgantown
Stefano DiMera
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william
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Johnny Bear
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hitmanmw said:

I keep hoping that one of these days Walter will have a decent shooting night. Still waiting. 4-14 from 3 just isn't good enough.

Same here. Keep waiting for him to have a 3 point shooting night like Nunn had against OU or at least something close to that as he's capable - but it keeps not happening.
historian
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Maybe he will unleash it in Provo. We will need something like that to silence the crowd.

OTOH, BYU lost at home to Cincinnati and Houston. We are certainly capable of doing that too.
bear2be2
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hitmanmw said:

I keep hoping that one of these days Walter will have a decent shooting night. Still waiting. 4-14 from 3 just isn't good enough.
It was good to see him hit four 3s. But 14 is more than he should be taking right now in his current state.

I wonder if he just decided he was going to try to shoot himself out of his slump in that game since it was the one really favorable matchup left on our schedule.

Hopefully it will get him going. But we probably can't afford to have him shooting that much in the future if his percentages don't improve considerably.

I like a lot of things about Walter. But this shooting funk is just weird. And he can't seem to shake it.
boognish_bear
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Stefano DiMera said:

Mitch Henessey said:

DanaDane said:

Gonna be a good one Tuesday night in Provo. I really hope Love's ankle allows him to play.
I really doubt we're going to play him for the first time after a long layoff on the road in a super hostile environment, coming off of back-to-back cross country flights, unfortunately. I'd look for him to come back next Saturday versus Houston. We'll definitely need him for that one.


Were flying straight to Provo to acclimate tomorrow from Morgantown



The student part of being a student athlete has got to be really rough on trips like this
boognish_bear
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bear2be2 said:

hitmanmw said:

I keep hoping that one of these days Walter will have a decent shooting night. Still waiting. 4-14 from 3 just isn't good enough.
It was good to see him hit four 3s. But 14 is more than he should be taking right now in his current state.

I wonder if he just decided he was going to try to shoot himself out of his slump in that game since it was the one really favorable matchup left on our schedule.

Hopefully it will get him going. But we probably can't afford to have him shooting that much in the future if his percentages don't improve considerably.

I like a lot of things about Walter. But this shooting funk is just weird. And he can't seem to shake it.


His mid range percentage has been much better the last couple of weeks. It would be nice if the coaching staff could get him to turn at least half of those three-point attempts in to mid range shots.
 
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