Finding common themes in three WVU basketball losses

With a No. 9 ranking, a lot seems to be going right for the West Virginia basketball team.

The Mountaineers are currently 17-3 and 6-2 in the Big 12 Conference. Nearly halfway through league play, the team is certainly in a good spot.

But could the WVU basketball team be 20-0 at this point, with a No. 1 ranking in the country?

Absolutely.

The three losses can be drawn together because of poor shooting by the Mountaineers. In the first loss of the season, a 70-54 setback to Virginia as part of the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden, the Mountaineers 20 of 50 shooting for a 40-percent shooting percentage.

They held a 36-30 lead at halftime, but that whittled away as the team held just a 30-percent shooting average in the second half.

Also, the Mountaineers were 12 of 21 from the free throw line.

Meanwhile, the Cavaliers were hot. They came back and shot 73.7-percent (14 of 19) from the floor in the second half. UVA finished with a 62.8 shooting percentage for the game.

It would have been hard to cool down Virginia, but had the Mountaineers made just 45-percent of their shots in the second half, they would have won.

Looking back, things did get out of hand. And, the Cavaliers looked like an unbeatable team; definitely the top squad in the Atlantic Coast Conference. Now, that doesn’t appear to be the case as they boast a 16-4 record. UVA even lost to Virginia Tech, a team the Mountaineers beat by 25 points.

West Virginia’s first conference loss was a heartbreaking, 70-68, defeat to Oklahoma. The Sooners won on a last-second layup. Here, it was the winners who were pitiful shooting the ball, although the Mountaineers were not much better.

Oklahoma shot 18 of 54 (33.3-percent) from the field for the game, while WVU was 25 of 57 (43.9-percent). In actuality, the game was won from the free throw line.

Here’s where the Mountaineers lost it.

OU was 27 of 32 from the free throw line, while the Mountaineers went 13 of 22. Make just three more of those, and the WVU basketball team is likely the No. 1 team in the country.

If knocking off the Sooners wasn’t impressive enough for the voters, the Mountaineers could have secured a No. 1 spot by beating Texas.

That didn’t happen as the Mountaineers shot 19 of 61 (31.1-percent) from the field against the Longhorns. It was still a very winnable game for the Mountaineers, down to the closing minutes. However, Texas pulled away for a 56-49 win in the WVU Coliseum.

Perhaps no shooting woes doomed WVU more than in this one, especially at the foul line.

The Mountaineers were 8 of 23 from the charity stripe, while Texas converted 18 of 30.

There’s not many secrets when it comes to this WVU basketball team. Its problems, though there aren’t many, lie in the offense.

The Mountaineers must make shots if they want to accomplish a lot this season.