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

Flo Thamba vs Derek Culver

The reason why this is so important is due to Derek Culver being so important to the success of West Virginia. An in-game trend that has been apparent is the Mountaineers have had difficulty getting Culver and another scoring option going at the same time.

As demonstrated in their two conference losses, the Mountaineers had a 24-point performance, a nineteen point performance and Culver had eight versus Kansas. Then in their loss to Oklahoma, they had four players in double-digits and Culver with just one made basket.

Coach Drew will understand how important it is for the Mountaineers to have Culver and somebody else being a scoring threat at the same time, therefore Bears’ center Flo Thamba  (4.3 ppg, 4.7 rpg) will be saddled with the responsibility of preventing Culver from getting ‘hot’. Currently, the 6’10 / 245 Thamba is averaging just under fifteen minutes per game, while 6’9 / 225 Matthew Mayer (10 ppg, 3.8 ppg) averages just over 15 minutes.

Mayer is more of an offensive threat, as he averages over one made three-pointer per game, but offense is not going to stop Culver from scoring, as Culver has not tallied up four fouls in a game once. At 6’10 /255 Culver is still serviceable on the perimeter as a defender and a scorer. Thirty pounds will be a lot for Mayer to give up in the post, so keeping an eye on Thamba in extended minutes will be interesting.