The West Virginia Mountaineers take on the Oklahoma State Cowboys in a Big 12 matchup where Oklahoma State will look to turn around their season.
WHO: Oklahoma State Cowboys (13-12, 3-9) vs. West Virginia Mountaineers (18-7, 6-6)
TV SCHEDULE: Tuesday, February 18th, 2020 at 7:00 PM EST, ESPN2
LOCATION: WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, West Virginia
The Oklahoma State Cowboys travel to Morgantown to take on a surging West Virginia Mountaineers basketball team. The Cowboys are still attempting to make their case for the NCAA Tournament. Currently, they are ranked 72 in the NCAA NET rankings; a three-spot drop from the last ranking. The Cowboys have some work to do and, as the saying goes, every game matters. It is even truer tonight. A win against the Mountaineers, a top-four team in the Big-12, would be an enormous resume builder in the minds of committee members.
Coach Michael Boynton is struggling in his third year at the helm of the Oklahoma State Cowboys basketball program. After a 21-win season in 2017-18, Boynton’s Cowboys only managed 12 wins in 2018-19 (including a paltry 5-13 conference record) and are just a notch above .500 currently. Team defense has improved over the last three seasons (allowed 73.3 points per game in 2017-18 and only 65.9 points per game this season) but the offense has struggled mightily over the same time frame.
In 2017-18, Boynton’s first season, the Cowboys averaged 76.6 points per game. That number has decreased the last two seasons to the tune of 68.1 and 67.2 in the 2019-19 season and 2019-20 season, respectively. Still, the Cowboys have an outside chance of making the tournament.
At the beginning of the season, the Cowboys rattled off seven straight wins before losing two in a row to Georgetown and Wichita State. Since that December 4th game against Georgetown, Oklahoma State has only managed six wins in 18 total contests. Boynton needs three-point shooting. Over that 18-game span, the Cowboys have shot 30.2% from three-point range. Further, they’ve averaged over 12 turnovers per game which, for a team without much offense, is a recipe for disaster.
On the other end of the spectrum in the race for a March Madness berth is the West Virginia Mountaineers. The Mountaineers are a top-15 team in the country and a top-5 team in the Big 12. Barring a monumental collapse, the Bob Huggins-led Mountaineers will be in the tournament for the first time since the 2017-18 season. The Big-12 has been a dog fight this year and the Mountaineers are an example of that. Despite being a top-15 team in the country, West Virginia has only managed a .500 record in conference play. In fact, only three (Baylor, Kansas, Texas Tech) of the 10 Big-12 men’s basketball teams, have a winning conference record.
BUT…the Mountaineers have lost three in a row. They have shown enough, early in the season, to still be included in the top-15. Is this the start of that monumental collapse? It could be but it would have to include another five or so losses. The telling part of this three-game losing streak for the Mountaineers is who they’ve played and lost to; Oklahoma, Kansas, and Baylor. All three teams are either as good as West Virginia or better.
Oklahoma would be considered to be on the same playing field as the Mountaineers while Baylor and Kansas are a step above both teams. If the Mountaineers cannot find an extra gear against tougher opponents, if they cannot bear down and focus, they cannot be successful in March.
Two teams at a crossroads with enormous coaching decisions looming. For the Oklahoma State Cowboys, Coach Boynton must be able to inspire his team to continue to fight despite their last 18 games. For Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers, he must stop the spiral. The Mountaineers have a solid resume and could be in store for a quality ranking. However, if they do not stop the bleeding in Morgantown on Tuesday night, they may play themselves out of meaningful March games.
Prediction: West Virginia 87, Oklahoma State 71