WVU faces many tough questions heading into rematch against No. 14 Baylor

MORGANTOWN — If there are two sides to the WVU men’s basketball team, a “Jekyll and Hyde,“ if you will, then the Mountaineers find themselves on the bad side at the moment.

That became clear, as Texas dismantled WVU’s defense for a 34-point victory on Saturday, the Mountaineers’ biggest defeat in Big 12 play.

“Our defense sucked,” was the way WVU head coach Bob Huggins summed it up after the 94-60 setback. “They were bad. We didn’t need any help in being any worse.”

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Away from the Coliseum in a true road game, WVU (15-10, 4-8 Big 12) is 2-6 with five of the losses coming by an average of just 5.6 points.

Then came Saturday, and whatever transformation hit the Mountaineers, it wasn’t good.

“I don’t think we came in ready or prepared,” WVU forward Jimmy Bell Jr. said. “The first game (against Texas), we tried to be physical with them. This game, we tried, but they came ready.”

After just a day of rest and a 90-minute bus drive to Waco, Texas, it becomes another question of which WVU team will show up to face No. 14 Baylor at 9 p.m. Monday?

The Bears (19-6, 8-4) will likely be somewhere in the AP Top 10 when this week’s rankings are released later Monday, a result of Baylor winning nine of its last 10 games and three in a row.

It’s 72-68 victory against TCU on Saturday saw guard L.J. Cryer and Adam Flagler combine for 51 points and nine 3-pointers.

“That’s Big 12 basketball,” Baylor coach Scott Drew said after the game. “We all know the importance of good guard play and L.J. and Adam really came through.”

History is not on WVU’s side in this matchup. Baylor has won the last four meetings, but all four were decided by a combined 23 points.

WVU hasn’t won at the Ferrell Center since 2018, back when Jevon Carter and Sagaba Konate were manning the Mountaineers’ defense.

But, WVU has bigger things to worry about than history.

Its top two scorers, Erik Stevenson and Tre Mitchell, failed to have any positive impact against the Longhorns.

Mitchell, who played at Texas last season before entering the transfer portal, was heckled by Texas’ student section throughout the game and attempted only three shots.

His offensive struggles date back to the middle of January, and he’s reached double figures just two times in WVU’s last eight games.

Stevenson made just one shot against Texas. After a four-game stretch in which he totaled two 30-plus scoring games and 98 points, he’s been held to just 11 in his last two.

Huggins said WVU’s struggles go deeper than just its top two guys.

Bell has made just two shots over his last four games.

“Jimmy started out and missed some shots, so he kind of got down on himself,” Huggins said.

Point guard Kedrian Johnson has scored, but he’s also turned the ball over 11 times in his last three games.

Of the Mountaineers’ 20 turnovers against Texas, 13 came from their starters.

Even with all of that, Huggins believes WVU is “a couple of wins” from earning an at-large spot in the NCAA tournament.

The bad news is getting one of those victories on the road against Baylor is an uphill battle.

“We’ll try and get them ready,” Huggins said. “(On Sunday), we can come out and go through Baylor stuff. Obviously we’re not going to go very hard or very long, because they really need to be off their feet.”

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