The West Virginia Mountaineers scored a huge resume-building win and a massive upset on Saturday night, shocking the college basketball world as they put together an impressive 79-71 win over the No. 19 BYU Cougars.
It's not particularly a win many expected WVU basketball to pull out, given they were facing a Top 25 team with projected top NBA Draft pick AJ Dybantsa coming off a three-game losing skid. But the Mountaineers were able to prove the doubters wrong and show that they're not dead – at least not yet – and that they still have some fight left in the tank as March approaches.
The West Virginia Mountaineers boost their NCAA Tournament resume as the BYU Cougars slide further down the bracket
For the BYU Cougars, the win worsens an already rough stretch of basketball that has now seen them drop eight of their last 12 outings, as they continue to see their potential seed line in the NCAA Tournament drop. And after the defeat in Morgantown served up back-to-back losses for the Cougars, head coach Kevin Young wasn't about to sugarcoat his feelings on his team's performance.
"You hold their two top guys to 6-of-23 between [Honor] Huff and [Treysen] Eaglestaff…most nights they’re going to have a hard time winning, but it was (Brenen) Lorient, (Chance) Moore, and (DJ) Thomas were just men out there," said Young. "They kicked our butt, so credit to them.”
It's hard to deny that he's right, as the Mountaineer bullied the Cougars on the boards, pulling down 39 rebounds, 18 of which came on the offensive glass, while Lorient and Moore split duties guarding Dybantsa and held him to 20 points – which ties his lowest scoring total in his last eight games. Lorient, Moore, and Thomas all reached double-digits in the points column as well.
If the Mountaineers hope to make a late-season push at the NCAA Tournament and see success in March, whether that comes in the Big Dance or in the College Basketball Crown or NIT, they'll want to see a repeat of tonight's aggressive performance more often as they close out the year.