West Virginia men's basketball just can't stop upsetting Top 10 opponents.
First, the Mountaineers gained a win over then-No. 3 Gonzaga at the Battle 4 Atlantis Tournament in November. Next, they would shock then-No. 7 Kansas. And on Saturday night, WVU completed the hat trick with a huge homecourt stunner of a win as they took down the visiting No. 2 Iowa State Cyclones 64-57 in front of a raucous and rowdy crowd in Morgantown.
It was another huge night for senior Javon Small as he dropped a 27-point performance, and a massive win for the Mountaineers and their NCAA tournament resume. Let's talk about what WVU (13-4, 4-2) in conference action did to send Iowa State (15-2, 5-1) packing with just their second loss of the season, and their first in conference play.
Deep-Range Shooting Makes a Difference
The Mountaineers were actually out-shot in total from the field -- Iowa State converted 25 total shots to WVU's 22 buckets, and shot 43% from the field as opposed to the Mountaineer's 39%.
But at the end of a tightly fought battle like the one in Morgantown on Saturday -- where there were 10 lead changes and neither team led by double-digits until the final 30 seconds of the game -- every single point counts, And the Mountaineers converted a high volume of three-point buckets while Iowa State couldn't buy a basket from behind-the-arc.
WVU shot 33% from three-point range and converted 9 three-pointers -- Iowa State, meanwhile, converted just 1-of-17 deep-range shots on the night for a three-point shooting percentage under just 6%. So in the end, the Mountaineers outscored the Cyclones 53-51 on all made field goals. Add in a free-throw advantage, and it was game over for Iowa State.
It's All About The Pace
It's not something that shines through on the stat sheet in a clear and easy-to-see way like scoring, but WVU has a unique way of controlling the pace of the game.
The Mountaineers are undersized, lack the depth many of their opponents benefit from, and are a team pieced together entirely through the transfer portal. But WVU combat's these weaknesses by slowing teams down and dictating the speed of the game and the style which is being played.
You can see it in the final score against Iowa State. The Mountaineers are tough defensively, but weren't statistically outstanding -- they forced a significant but not outstanding 14 turnovers, but only converted them into 13 points. As mentioned earlier, the Cyclones out-shot WVU and did so at a modest 43% overall shooting percentage. They were also outrebounded and outscored in the paint. But they still held Iowa State to their lowest-scoring performance this year, which was 17 points below their next highest-scoring performance. It was also the lowest combined score of any game the Cyclones have played this season.
Homecourt Advantage Is Real
It's been mentioned on this site before how difficult playing on the road in the Big 12 can be, and that goes for teams visiting WVU as well.
The WVU Coliseum is one of the toughest environments in college basketball when filled, and just like Houston used their lively home atmosphere to garner momentum in their win against WVU earlier this week, the Mountaineers fed off the incredible energy from a sellout crowd in Morgantown.
The Coliseum was packed and as raucous as ever on Saturday, and it's hard to drive home just how much the atmosphere and momentum from that type of environment can effect the motivation and momentum of both the home and visiting teams in this sport. The Mountaineers will hope to turn out similar crowds for the rest of their home schedule.