West Virginia at Baylor: 2020-21 key storylines for Big 12 matchup

Active defenses

The West Virginia Mountaineers no longer can be described by using the moniker “Press Virginia”, but that does not mean Coach Huggins does not ramp up the intensity among his players on defense. That defensive intensity is not lacking either when it comes to Coach Drew getting his Bears to buy into his own defensive mentality.

One should not necessarily equate active defense as being an effective defense. For comparison purposes only, of the twelve games the Mountaineers have played, seven of those games have exceeded the projected gambling total, whereas four of the Bears’ games have. one of the Bears’ games was less than a point, while two surpassed the total by over 30 points, and one game was over 40 points.

Both teams subscribe to an ‘all or nothing’ mentality when it comes to defense. Coach Drew has the Bears primed to jump the passing lanes, especially up top in order to disrupt a slot-to-slot pass designed to initiate the offense. This has led them to average just over nine steals a game, which ranks them at No. 9. Many of those guards’ steals lead to easy lay-ups on the other end. The consequence is, the passes that are not disrupted end up with the Bears having to recover on defense.

For their part, the Mountaineers will double team anybody anywhere on the court. While this has only resulted in slightly more than six steals per game, the pressure on the offense has led opponents to average over 14 turnovers versus the Mountaineers. The constant double teams make them vulnerable to the quick swing which leaves a lot of shooters unguarded on the weak side three-point line.