The West Virginia Mountaineers got back in the in column on Sunday against the Cincinnati Bearcats after losing at the buzzer a Top 10 TCU team earlier in the week, posting a dominant performance and holding off a massive comeback attempt to secure an 84-76 win on the road. Here are our initial takeaways from the game.
Jordan Thomas rediscovers her groove
There was a lot of hype surrounding sophomore Jordan Thomas this season, after she played a significant role for West Virginia during her freshman season by averaging 6.2 points and 4.3 rebounds per game. And at first it seemed that she would be critical to the team's success, as she recorded 10-or-more points in four of the team's first six games this season.
Thomas has since struggled, however, missing a three-game stretch during December and scoring double digits just once in her last nine outings for WVU, including scoring just five combined points in WVU's first five games since New Year's Day. But she returned to form on Sunday against Cincinnati, tying her season-high scoring total with 12 points on a perfect 5-of-5 shooting from the field and 2-of-2 at the foul line.
The Mountaineers have a very talented team with plenty of depth, but no player on the roster matches the size advantage that the 6-foot-3 Thomas brings to the court. When she is playing well, it can help transform WVU into a very different team (more on that with our next point), and it was great to see her play so well on Sunday.
Dominance in the paint a deciding factor
A different aspect to WVU's offense this season that hasn't necessarily been quite as strong during head coach Mark Kellogg's first two seasons in the post presence for the Mountaineers. West Virginia added two 6-foot-1 transfers in the post with Kierra Wheeler and Carter McCray joining the program, and Wheeler has started all 19 games this season while McCray has started 10 straight, taking over a starting role in the absence of Thomas and holding it since.
It's been rare this season to see all three of these post players click in the same game for WVU this season, but that is exactly what happened against the Bearcats. Wheeler racked up 17 points and six rebounds, and McCray tallied 10 points and seven rebounds. In addition to Thomas coming through with her 12-point effort and adding four rebounds, the three players combined for 39 points and 17 rebounds. And when your post contingency can do that, it's going to make it tough for other teams.
The Mountaineers scored a stunning 56 of their 84 points in the pain on Sunday, outscoring Cincinnati by 28 points in that category. They also outrebounded the Bearcats 33-25, despite Cincinnati entering as the fifth-best team in the Big 12 on the boards.
No comebacks in Cincinnati
The Mountaineers nearly gave a game away that they had just about as under wraps as could be.
WVU lead by 26 points in the third quarter of action, and West Virginia likely already had the busses warming up to start the trip back to Morgantown. But Cincinnati put together a 6-0 run and then a 9-0 run before the quarter had ended. Then, a 10-0 run in the fourth quarter trimmed the lead to seven points. And while WVU didn't completly stop scoring, breaking up the Bearcats runs with buckets of their own intermittently, it felt like the worst-case scenario might come to pass for awhile.
But WVU was resilient, and put their heads down and fought, outscoring the Bearcats 12-4 over the next three and a half minutes to re-extend the lead to 15 points, and while Cincinnati would cut into the lead before the final buzzer, that was the final nail in the coffin of the Bearcats. In a league where you're facing the top competition in college basketball nigh-in and night-out, teams are going to be streaky at times, and you're going to be challenged regularly. To be able to stomp out such comeback attempts shows a team that can close out a win when pressure is applied, and that's going to be important in March.