In Review: Baylor 82, WVU 75 Podcast & Thoughts

Baylor (18-9; 9-5) sweeps another Big12 foe with a 82-75 win against WVU (10-17; 2-12) in Waco, Texas.  Next up for the Bears is a match-up with Texas Wednesday February 27th at 8pm in Waco.  

Positives

• Third sweep of a Big12 opponent this season.  Scott Drew is now 10-8 vs Bob Huggins in head to head match-ups.  10-7 since Huggins has been at WVU.  
• Inspirational performances by Mark Vital (15 pts; 14 reb; 2 blks) and Mario Kegler (23 pts; 10 reb; 3 assists).  No one is tougher than these two.  
• Bandoo (22 points) and Butler (12 points) made huge shots when the game was in the balance.  Butler with 4 assists and only 1 turnover.  
• 74% free throw shooting.  Needed a good percentage today because there were a lot of free throws.  

Needs Improvement

• Basketball is not meant to be a free throw shooting contest.  WVU likes to ugly up the game.  But 51 fouls and 69 free throws breaks up all rhythm to the game.  I thought Paul Jannsen and Rick Crawford were particularly bad today in their officiating.  And KenPom agrees.  They rate Jannsen #136 as an official and Crawford #65.  That’s mid major quality.  
• Production from bigs.  Not their night.  Foul trouble from the start.  Freddie Gillespie and Flo Thamba combined for 9 fouls but only 3 points, 2 rebounds and 1 block.  Need much better results against Texas.  
• Slow start with questionable energy.  Gave up 40 first half points to a WVU team that was struggling to score against other Big12 teams.  Need a better effort out of the gate against Texas on Wednesday.