Defensive battle on hand, as No. 24 Oklahoma State travels to No. 21 WVU

MORGANTOWN — The gauntlet has arrived for the No. 21 WVU women’s basketball team.

“We know what’s coming, the TCUs and Kansas States and Baylors,” WVU head coach Mark Kellogg said.” There are other opportunities, but you only get so many opportunities to play against a ranked team at home in front of your crowd. You want to take advantage of those opportunities when they’re presented to you.”

It begins at noon Saturday, as the Mountaineers (16-4, 6-3 Big 12) host No. 24 Oklahoma State (18-3, 8-2), who has won its last four games and beat WVU 64-57 earlier this season.

WVU STATS

The 57 points was the lowest total of the season for WVU.

“We scored 24 of those 57 in the first quarter,” Kellogg said. “We couldn’t figure out ways to score as that game wore on.”

As far as the gauntlet is concerned, the Mountaineers are ranked 14th in the NCAA’s NET rankings, but WVU’s two Quad 1 games are tied for the fewest amount among the schools in the top 20.

WVU’s Quad 1 games to this point were a neutral-court loss against Texas and that road loss against the Cowgirls on Jan. 11.

What lies ahead is five potential Quad 1 games over the Mountaineers final nine games in the regular season, beginning today with Oklahoma State, which is ranked No. 27 in the NET.

“It’s going to be a game, for sure,” WVU guard J.J. Quinerly said. “Oklahoma State is a great basketball team. They’ve got some great players. (Stailee) Heard is playing amazing right now. We’ve definitely got to get locked in and be ready to play.”

Heard had 18 points and seven rebounds against WVU in the first meeting, but it was Oklahoma State’s defense that really did the trick.

Aside from being held to its lowest point total of the season, WVU shot just 20 of 60 from the floor (33%), turned the ball over 18 times and went just 7 of 26 from 3-point range.

“We can’t score 57 again,” Kellogg said. “You’ve got to make shots. We’ve got to score more than that to beat a team of their quality.”

The interesting part is both teams are nearly identical in their team stats, but both get there through different styles of play.

Both teams average right around 80 points a game on offense and both give up less than 59 per game.

“They have a big who can hold down the paint,” Quinerly said. “It makes it harder for us to get in the paint. They have athletic guards who can guard on the perimeter. I would say they are kind of similar to us. They’re able to guard anyone on the court.”

West Virginia’s full-court pressure defense causes havoc. Oklahoma State chooses to guard man-to-man in the halfcourt to cause frustration.

“They’re elite, at times, with their ability to put four guards around a post player who have played really well,” Kellogg said. “They’re playing really well. They beat TCU last week, which was a huge win for their program. I think they’re believing, playing with confidence and playing with a swagger.

“They’re tough. They’re physical and they can guard. They can get out and score in multiple ways.”

And both teams are also making a run at a possible Big 12 title. Oklahoma State is just a half game out of first place. WVU is two games back and needs a strong finish to have a shot at the title.

“We have to clean some things up. We’ve been better at home than on the road,” Kellogg said. “We’re not going to win just because we’re at home by any stretch, but we’ve played and shot better at the Coliseum.”