Just over two weeks ago, the West Virginia men’s basketball program was flying high coming off an impressive 64-57 win over the then-No. 2 Iowa State Cyclones. West Virginia would find themselves in the national rankings come the following Monday. Since then, West Virginia has lost 4 of its last 5 games. Before its most recent loss to TCU, the Mountaineers were slated for an 9-seed in the NCAA Tournament according to ESPN’s Joe Lunardi. As the losses have continued to accumulate for WVU, who now sit at 14-8 and 5-6 in conference play, they find themselves in need of a few wins to close out the season. But just how many will they need to reach the NCAA Tournament?
With 9 conference games remaining in the regular season, it is safe to say that 5 more wins would put WVU in the field. For the sake of simplicity, one could say that 4 more wins may put them squarely on the bubble, and 3 wins would leave them with some work to do in the Big 12 Conference Tournament in Kansas City.
Tough Loss at TCU
On Wednesday night, West Virginia had an opportunity to pick up their second win in a row, both coming on the road. Unfortunately, the Mountaineers fell to the Horned Frogs of TCU by a final score of 65-60. Last Sunday, WVU collected a double-digit win at Cincinnati.
Despite taking a large lead early in the action, West Virginia trailed by a score of 54-43 with just under 8 minutes to play. They then went on a 13-2 run to tie the game at 56 with just under 4 minutes remaining. Though they had opportunities to take the lead, WVU was unable to do so and TCU simply made more plays in the game’s closing minutes.
Javon Small led the Mountaineers once again with 20 points, including 4 triples, and 7 assists. Joseph Yesufu followed up a good performance at Cincinnati by scoring 11 points on the road at TCU. Jonathan Powell struggled to shoot the ball tonight, going just 1-for-9 from the field while Amani Hansberry was 0-for-3 in 16 minutes of play.
While it may sound like a broken record at this point, Javon Small needs consistent help from his teammates in the scoring department. It is certainly an encouraging sight to see Joseph Yesufu put up solid performances in consecutive games. He along with other WVU role players are going to need to step it up down the stretch of the season if West Virginia wants to avoid being on the outside looking in on Selection Sunday.
West Virginia will be back in action at the WVU Coliseum when they host Utah on Saturday at 5PM ET.