Keys for West Virginia Basketball to avoiding an upset to Morehead State

2. Few teams in the country are as disciplined defensively as Morehead State

West Virginia’s offense has proven to be feast or famine, and that has obviously created issues for the Mountaineers.  Bob Huggins’ crew very seldom relies on inside play to score, ranking last in the Big 12 in point distribution in that area, while sitting in the middle when it came to long-range bombs.

Where West Virginia’s offense differed greatly from the rest of the Big 12 was in the reliance on free-throws.  No team in the conference saw more of its offense come from the charity stripe than the Mountaineers, with a mark of 23.9%.  Nationally, West Virginia is third in free throw attempts at 24.2, and second in free throws made with 17.4 per game.

Now, the Mountaineers must pick their poison.  Again, West Virginia is abysmal – and does not rely much at all – on inside play.  Where the Mountaineers thrive is where Morehead State is best defensively, including from long range – where West Virginia shoots 35.8% but the Eagles hold teams to 30.7%.

This means West Virginia must get to the free-throw line, no matter what – but that is much easier said than done.  Whereas the Mountaineers are among the nation’s best at getting to the free-throw line, the Eagles rank towards the top in preventing teams from earning freebies, coming in at 11th defensively in free-throw attempts (13.4) and fourth in free-throws made (9.1).

For context: the Mountaineers have had 16 games where they have reached the free-throw line at least 20 times, with 10 of those games seeing West Virginia attempt at least 30 freebies.  West Virginia has had just one game this season with single-digit free-throw attempts, in the Mountaineers’ most recent outing in the Big 12 Tournament against Oklahoma State.

Contrarily, however, Morehead State has allowed opponents to attempt 20 or more free-throws on just three occasions and has held teams to single-digit attempts five times, with teams scoring less than 10 points from the charity stripe in 19 games.

That is mightily concerning for West Virginia.  The Mountaineers must find ways to utilize their greatest strengths – and overcome Morehead State’s stout defense.  Failing to do so will send West Virginia’s offense into a lull – and that could be deadly against a Morehead State team that struggles to score and relies on their defense to remain in games.