MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Having already played one Big 12 team with just as much size (Kansas) and another that took nearly half of its shots from 3-point range (Oklahoma State), Bob Huggins believes the conference’s strength is in its variety.
“This is a hard league and it’s a really different league,” he said. “You don’t see the same stuff. Sometimes you get into a league and everybody does kind of the same thing. That’s not the case here.”
The 17th-ranked Mountaineers (12-2, 1-1 Big 12) will face another unique challenge at 6 p.m. Saturday against No. 22 Texas Tech (10-4, 1-1).
Armed with the Big 12’s top freshman guard in Jahmi’us Ramsey, but without the interior defense the Red Raiders had while finishing as the national runner-up last season, Texas Tech has developed into one of the league’s highest-scoring teams.
Ramsey is second in the league in scoring at 17.7 points per game and he’s shooting nearly 50% from the field.
Without the inside presence of Norense Odiase and Tariq Owens — both graduated after last season — Texas Tech has become more of a gang-rebound team, where its leading rebounder is 6-foot-6 guard Chris Clarke, a graduate transfer from Virginia Tech.
Throw all of it together and the scouting report on the Red Raiders will resemble little of what the Mountaineers saw against Kansas and Oklahoma State.
“There are a lot of different nuances that people do in this league, so the preparation is different,” Huggins continued. “I think, in a way, it’s good, because you’re a little fresher. You’re doing something different and not doing the same thing every day.”
Baylor game is sold out
The Mountaineer Ticket Office announced Thursday that West Virginia’s game against No. 4 Baylor on March 7 is sold out.
That’s the final game of the regular season and it becomes the third game to register as a sellout this season.
Saturday’s game against Texas Tech was previously announced as sold out, as was the Feb. 1 game against Kansas State.
The Mountaineers enter Saturday’s game fourth in the Big 12 in home attendance, averaging 10,824 fans over their first six home games this season.
Time to slow down for WVU point guards
A concern for the Mountaineers against Texas Tech is WVU enters the game as the only Big 12 team with more than 200 turnovers committed and the Mountaineers are also eighth in the Big 12 in assists.
Through its first two league games, WVU has committed 36 turnovers and registered just 15 assists.
“We just have to slow down,” WVU point guard Miles McBride said. “As a point guard, if we’re moving too fast, everyone else is going to do that.
“We’ve got to slow down and really direct everybody to where they’re supposed to be and keep everyone under control.”
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