MORGANTOWN — West Virginia finished 7 of 21 shooting Tuesday from 3-point range in its 77-68 loss to fifth-ranked Baylor inside the Coliseum.
That’s from 22-feet and 1 3/4 inches away from the basket.
On lay-up attempts, which generally come from about one foot away, the Mountaineers finished 7 of 22.
“We hurt ourselves,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. We continually stub our toe when you miss an enormous amount of one-footers, two-footers around the rim.
“It’s not like they had a great shot blocker. It’s more understandable if there is a great shot blocker in there, but they don’t have a great shot blocker. This has been a habitual problem.”
The lack of inside misses hurt most midway through the second half.
Baylor’s Matthew Mayer and L.J. Cryer had just nailed 3-pointers to give Baylor a 53-48 lead.
And then WVU forward Dimon Carrigan had a close shot roll off the rim and Jalen Bridges had a chance for a tip-in that didn’t go.
Gabe Osabuohien had a drive to the basket that looked to be an easy lay-up that also came off the rim and of WVU’s 13 offensive rebounds, the Mountaineers came away with just eight second-chance points.
“That’s something we’ve got to fix,” said WVU guard Sean McNeil, who finished with 17 points and five rebounds. “We can’t miss bunnies right there around the rim, especially in this type of game. We needed those buckets. I missed one. Those are buckets you need, especially late. We needed those points and just didn’t get them.”
Baylor began the game with a 14-0 edge in points in the paint. WVU didn’t score its first points in the paint until the 6:59 mark of the first half, and by then Baylor held a 30-18 lead.
Baylor sharpshooters
Mayer and Cryer combined for 45 points and 10 3-pointers for Baylor (16-2, 4-2 Big 12), and both guards played with four fouls for much of the second half.
Cryer, who filled in for the injured James Akinjo, scored 25 with 16 coming in the second half after he picked up three fouls in the first half.
Akinjo is Baylor’s leading scorer and the Big 12 leader in assists.
“He’s a good player and good players are going to make good plays,” WVU guard Malik Curry said of Cryer. “His team definitely needed him tonight, because their starting point guard was out. He stepped up and did what he was supposed to do. I did what I could to stop him, but he made some good shots.”
At 6-foot-9, Mayer is matchup nightmare on the perimeter for most teams. McNeil was tasked in guarding him for portions of the game, but gave up six inches and 20 pounds in doing so.
“He’s an elite player,” McNeil said of Mayer. “He’s 6-9 and can handle the ball and shoot it. He’s an extremely good player and we knew that going in.”
News and notes
WVUhas lost five of its last six games against the Bears, who have been ranked nationally in the top five for the last four matchups.
In its last two games, WVU has been outscored in the paint 82-38.
Curry led the Mountaineers in scoring with 19 points. He’s scored 42 points in his last two games.
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