Big 12 Basketball: West Virginia runs Baylor out of Morgantown

West Virginia drills Baylor in the best Big 12 basketball game of Tuesday evening.

Baylor had the most impressive resume in the country coming into the second week of January. Because of their victories over Oregon, VCU, Wichita State, Louisville, Xavier, Iowa State and Oklahoma State, Baylor was awarded with their first number one ranking in the Associated Press poll in school history.

But that will be short lived because No. 10 West Virginia drilled them in Morgantown on Tuesday.

The Mountaineers forced 29 turnovers (!), including 16 in the first half, to defeat the new number one, 89-68.

Bob Huggins’ team was led by Nathan Adrian, who scored 22 points on 7-of-10 shooting and grabbed six rebounds. Jevon Carter added 17 points and seven assists, while Tarik Phillip and Brandon Watkins put up 11 points apiece.

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While the Mountaineers’ offense was terrific (48 percent from the field overall, 45 percent from downtown, 20 assists on 33 field goals), it was their vaunted press that kept the Bears out of their rhythm. Scott Drew’s team loves to play at their pace. They like to slow the game down and beat you with their chemistry, ball movement and high IQ. They like to use their size advantage with their two starting bigs (Johnathan Motley and Jo Lual-Acuil Jr.), and they normally only average 12 turnovers per game.

Instead, the Mountaineers kept them out of their comfortable zone. They held Motley to eight points on 3-of-10 shooting, and not one Baylor’s players scored more than 10 points. The Bears had 12 assists, but they typically average 17 per game.

This doesn’t mean that West Virginia is suddenly a top five team. However, it does confirm how tough and aggressive the Mountaineers are, and how difficult it is to beat WVU in Morgantown. West Virginia’s press feeds off the energy of the crowd and when they control the pace of the game, it’s a nightmare for their opponent.

I’m not high on West Virginia in the big picture (NCAA Tournament) because the style of play doesn’t always transfer over, especially against some of the most elite teams in the country on a neutral court. The Mountaineers’ offense is at it’s best when their defense is operating at full capacity. That’s not always the case when getting down to the nitty gritty against the best guards in the nation.

For Baylor, they certainly deserved the number one ranking based on resume. They didn’t lose a single game before Tuesday night and it’s not like they were matching up against bottom feeders. Baylor has beaten five teams in the RPI top 50 and won one of the best early season tournaments, the Battle 4 Atlantis.

But that doesn’t mean they’re better than the Kentuckys, UCLAs, Villanovas and Kansas’ of the world. Baylor isn’t in that class just yet. They have the size, length, athleticism, defensive ability and chemistry, but they don’t have the pure talent of those teams.

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That’s not to say that the Bears can’t make the Final Four and win a National Championship though. Scott Drew has still done a remarkable job with this unit and they’ll surely be a top 7-10 team throughout the rest of the year.

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