West Virginia basketball: three takeaways from the loss to Arkansas

Saturday, West Virginia extended their losing streak to five games after falling short on the road to Arkansas by a score of 68-77. The Mountaineers faced a tough challenge as the Razorbacks had been unstoppable at home, boasting an 11-1 home record, which improved to 12-1 following their victory over West Virginia.

Saturday’s game wasn’t pretty for West Virginia. The Mountaineers made Arkansas’ victory look easy en route to their fifth straight loss. In the defeat, there were both positives and negatives on display during a gruesome showing for the Mountaineers.

Here are three takeaways from Saturday’s game:

Takeaway one: the Mountaineers had hope in the second half yet fell short

From the beginning of the game, it was clear that Arkansas could dominate West Virginia.

Arkansas quickly took a 5-0 lead at the beginning of the game and had the Mountaineers trailing by nine to end the first half. There were slight glimmers of hope for the Mountaineers in the second half despite a brutal first half.

With 12:23 left in the second half, the Mountaineers were able to cut the lead down to five points thanks to a 12-0 run beginning just two minutes prior. Arkansas matched the Mountaineers’ scoring spree and extended their lead back to 13 as the Mountaineers struggled yet again.