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

LAS VEGAS, NEVADA - NOVEMBER 29: Mark Vital #11 of the Baylor Bears reacts after saving the ball from going out of bounds on a play against the Washington Huskies in the second half of their game during the #VegasBubble basketball tournament at T-Mobile Arena on November 29, 2020 in Las Vegas, Nevada. The Bears defeated the Huskies 86-52. (Photo by Ethan Miller/Getty Images) /

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Baylor Bears Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua Mark J. Rebilas-USA TODAY Sports /

Defensive rebounding

If you want to break this game down to one stat that could very well determine the outcome, look to the offensive rebounding category in the box-score. After struggling on the offensive boards in their first game without Oscar Tshiebwe, the Mountaineers bounced back with 16 rebounds on the offensive end in a comeback win versus Oklahoma.

The fact that West Virginia is ranked No.8 in Division I with an average of 15.2 offensive rebounds per game and Baylor’s 13.6 per game places them No.30 is not even the whole story. The interesting part of this storyline is that the Bears allow their opponents to get almost ten offensive rebounds per game, which is just No.157, while the Mountaineers surrender 11.4 offensive boards, an average better than just 72 Division I teams.

The combination of two great offensive rebounding teams, who happen to give up a lot of offensive boards themselves, is an obvious equation of a lot of second-chance opportunities and an increase in scoring.

While 40-minutes of basketball should never be boiled down to just one statistical category, whichever team is able to hold their ground and be able to grab some defensive boards and keep their opponent to one shot per trip down the court, could decide the outcome of the game.

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