After falling to Wake Forest in Charleston, West Virginia, on Saturday evening, the Mountaineers will be back in the Hope Coliseum on Tuesday night when they face the Little Rock Trojans of the Ohio Valley Conference (OVC).
Notably, West Virginia enters the matchup with Little Rock on the heels of an unwanted trend. After a 5-0 start to the season, the Mountaineers faced a step up in competition that resulted in consecutive losses for WVU. This was followed by the Mountaineers picking up blowout wins over low-major competition in Mercyhurst and Coppin State, before suffering the nine-point loss to Wake Forest. Now, West Virginia will see a struggling Little Rock squad before looking to break this trend when they square off with Ohio State in Cleveland on Saturday night.
Little Rock Trojans
The struggling Trojans will come into the matchup with West Virginia having just a 2-7 record. On November 12, they suffered an 89-49 loss to Marquette. They are currently riding a five-game losing streak with losses to Murray State, Texas State, Southern Illinois, Central Arkansas, and Arkansas State.
Numbers to Know
Little Rock ranks 10th in the 11-team OVC in points scored per game with 66.1 and they allow 78.8 points per game which has them ranked 9th in defense.
Despite the 2-7 record, Little Rock has shot it well from beyond the arc this season. They lead the OVC in three-point percentage, shooting the ball at a 38.9% clip. They are ranked 24th nationally in that department.
The Trojans have had trouble taking care of the basketball this season, leading the OVC in turnovers per game with 16.4, which is the 7th most in the nation.
Players to Know
Senior guard Jonathan Lawson led the Trojans in scoring last season and is boasting similar numbers this season. Lawson is averaging 14.4 points to go along with 3.8 rebounds and assists per game. He’s shooting just over 37% from three-point territory this season on 6.6 attempts per game.
6’8 forward, Cameron Wallace, is averaging over 10 points and 4 rebounds in 20 minutes per game.
Penn State transfer Kachi Nzeh is averaging 10 points while shooting 42% from downtown on 2+ attempts per game.
Two Goals for West Virginia
Offensively, West Virginia must find a way to get more players involved in the flow of the offense and be able to carry it forward when they see Ohio State this weekend. Simply put, dominating lesser competition but struggling to run offense against power conference opponents is a major concern. Hodge and company need to find effective ways to run offensive sets that result in easy baskets. Against Wake Forest, the Mountaineers’ primary had two plays, one was to let Honor Huff shoot from downtown, and the other was for Chance Moore to drive the ball to the basket.
Defensively, the tale of the tape is rather similar. With a step up in competition, WVU’s defense has struggled. In all three losses for the Mountaineers, the opposing team had a second half in which they scored 40+ points. Meanwhile, in six of their seven wins, they have held teams to less than 60 points total for the game. While that isn’t to be expected against power conference opponents, this level of discrepancy is concerning. With only two games remaining against mid-major opponents (Little Rock, Mississippi Valley State), WVU must work to fix what has been wrong on this end of the floor.
Tip-off between the Mountaineers and the Trojans is set for 7 PM EST on ESPN+.