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

Consistency from three

If this article was to list the keys to victory for each team, then it would go without saying that each team needs to play defense, rebound, and hit threes. The vast majority of teams that do those three things better than their opponents walk away with the victory. The storyline, however, is not that West Virginia has to hit threes, it is, will they. It is not solely up to West Virginia though.

The best predictor of future success in sports is past behavior, and so far this season the Bears’ have been inconsistent, at best, defending the three. As well, If you are depending on the Mountaineers to make a lot of three-point shots because they will get some clean looks due to the Bears jumping the passing lanes, you should not bet on it.

The Mountaineers have upped their three-point shooting from 34 percent on the year, to 40 percent in their four conference games. It has not been a complete turnaround for the Mountaineers, for sandwiched in between their pairs of conference games was a 2 for 21 performance versus Northwestern.

The other half of the equation is the Bears inconsistency in defending the three. In defeating Oklahoma they held them to under 17 percent from the arc, that performance however was preceded by allowing their three previous opponents to shoot an average of 41 percent. Choose your poison, will it be both teams’ inconsistency to hit the three or to defend the three that will be the storyline told.