WVU, Baylor both look to prove they’re better than their recent results

MORGANTOWN — There may be no clear way to define the unpredictability that has come with the daily results in the Big 12.

In the early going of league play, last-place Kansas State owns a victory against Texas Tech, which has wins against both Kansas and Baylor, while Baylor saw its grasp on the country’s No. 1 ranking and a 21-game winning streak come to and end after losing two straight games at home.

WVU STATS

It’s the first time in three years the Bears (15-2, 3-2 Big 12) have lost consecutive games, which will serve as the main storyline at 5 p.m. Tuesday, when the fifth-ranked Baylor travels to West Virginia (13-3, 2-2).

“Baylor is very talented and it’s surprising they lost two at home,” WVU guard Sean McNeil said. “We know they’re going to come in here looking for a win. We’ve got to be really prepared and get dialed in at practice and go over the game plan to figure out what we’ve got to do to make it three straight losses.”

The individual match-ups do not favor the Mountaineers, who are coming off a 26-point road loss on Saturday against Kansas.

Baylor forwards Flo Thamba (6-foot-10, 245) and Jonathan Tchamwa Tchatchoua (6-8, 245) are older and more experienced down low and Matthew Mayer is a 6-9 forward, who plays like a guard with 20 3-pointers already this season.

Mayer was tough matchup last season for WVU, scoring 18 points in 27 minutes off the bench.

“It’s a lot of matchup problems,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “Particularly when the guy (Gabe Osabuohien) we’ve been playing on everybody else’s big lists himself at 6-foot-6, but that’s a bare-faced lie. He’s more like 6-4, 6-5. That’s why they’ve had the run they’ve had, is because they have really good players.”

WVU may get a break in that Baylor point guard James Akinjo may sit out the game after taking a hard fall last week against Texas Tech.

Akinjo is Baylor’s top scorer at 13.9 points per game, but also leads the Big 12 with 5.7 assists per game. He did not play in the final minutes against Oklahoma State on Saturday and is listed as day-to-day.

West Virginia also has its own question marks with leading scorer Taz Sherman.

The senior is still working to get back to full strength after entering COVID-19 protocol two weeks ago. He was held to just five points on 1 of 9 shooting in Saturday’s loss against the Jayhawks.

“He didn’t look like he was at 100% (in Sunday’s practice),” Huggins said. “Obviously we didn’t go full-court or go up and down, but we wanted him in there enough to know what was going on. He’s not 100% yet, I know he’s not what he was.”

Without Sherman at full strength, Jalen Bridges recorded his first double-double of the season with 12 points and 11 rebounds against Kansas.

“JB has stepped up to being a guy who can score,” Huggins said. “He’s shown that against the best teams in our league. Obviously that’s been out of need, because of Taz’s situation.”

And so you have two teams that are maybe at a crossroad. Baylor is looking to rebound after losing two straight, while the Mountaineers want to show they are better than what they showed against Kansas.

If neither really know what to expect, well, that seems to be life in the Big 12 this season.

“It just kind of shows you how tough this league is from top to bottom,” McNeil said. “At the same time, this league is completely up for grabs. You can go all throughout Baylor, Texas Tech and Oklahoma. Kansas State is playing really well. Any team, you name it, can win on any given night. You have to come ready to play.”

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