MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — With their backs against the wall heading into the final eight games of the season, if there is any panic in the West Virginia women’s basketball team, it’s difficult to tell.
“You’re going to deal with adversity all the time,” WVU guard Tynice Martin said. “That’s what I’m trying to get our younger players to understand. The year that we won the Big 12 tournament (in 2017), it was the same thing. We hit a rough patch, and then all of a sudden, we had three great games and set ourselves up for the postseason. If we can just get the mindset again and gain some confidence, we’ll be fine.”
West Virginia (14-7, 4-6) hosts Kansas State (10-11, 4-6) at 7 p.m. Tuesday in what is a must-win game for the Mountaineers to remain in the hunt for the NCAA tournament.
That appeared to be an afterthought a month ago, following a 13-1 start.
West Virginia was positioning itself to host a NCAA regional but now is fighting to stay in the field of 64.
“We’re a good team. I think we’ve proved that throughout the year,” WVU guard Lucky Rudd said. “Everyone has a slump. We just happen to be going through a slump. It’s not a problem for us to work our way out of it.
“When we’re in games, we have to understand that it’s do-or-die time and we need to keep pushing.”
In road losses to Oklahoma and Oklahoma State last week, the Mountaineers were held to below 40% shooting from the field and less than 28% from 3-point range.
“Let’s make no doubt about it, we are struggling,” WVU head coach Mike Carey said. “We’re not hitting shots. That’s the bottom line. When you’re not scoring, every little thing sticks out. You’re defense sticks out, your rebounding and turnovers, and that’s what is happening right now.”
WVU also lost starting point guard Madisen Smith for the immediate future. Smith came down hard on her knee in the opening minutes against Oklahoma State and sat out the rest of the game.
“She definitely won’t be playing (Tuesday),” Carey said. “She might be out a week or two, probably.”
Carey said Rudd or freshman Kirsten Deans would fill in at point guard.
The Mountaineers beat Kansas State, 74-63, to open their Big 12 season, but that was while WVU was still on the upswing.
The Mountaineers will have to matchup against Kansas State forwards Akoya Lee and Peyton Williams, who account for 43% of the Wildcats’ scoring this season and 49% of the team’s rebounds.
“The thing about the Big 12 is anyone can win,” Martin said. “They’re playing great right now. We have to be able to take away what they do best and attack their zone and keep them off the boards and make everything tough.”
