One of the hottest teams nationally right now is the Mountaineers of West Virginia. Bob Huggins’ squad has won three of their last four and sit at 6-5 in a conference they were not supposed to have success in, especially considering its depth and talent.
Saturday saw WVU fall at the hands of Kansas in a game that was quite difficult for them. Juwan Saten continues to generate consideration as a potential player of the year candidate in the conference, but the Mountaineer interior was exposed severely.
The Jayhawks outrebounded their visitor by nine boards in total and Joel Embiid had three blocks to go along with 11 points. Tarik Black, Perry Ellis and Andrew Wiggins all had quality performances as much of their offense was generated inside.
While Devin Williams is an interesting young talent and Nathan Adrian, Brandon Watkins and Kevin Noreen create a nice amount of depth for this front court, they lack impact bodies at this point in time. All three role players can come in and log minutes, help on the glass and give fouls, but they simply don’t have the impact on the game Huggins’ squad requires in order to be great instead of just good.
As Iowa State comes to town, they have a very interesting and talented front court. Melvin Ejim comes off a 48 point outburst against TCU and Georges Niang is one of the tougher covers in the nation. He plays beyond his years and moves extremely well without the ball for a center, although he stands at only 6’7.
That is the most concerning element of this game for any WVU, and it also is the reasoning for the Cyclones to be two point road favorites. While the Mountaineer offensive attack has continued to improve leaps and bounds over the course of the season, it still is not as good or as consistent was what Iowa State does.
Additionally, the kids from Morgantown are middle of the pack when it comes to defense. They have struggled to contain the opposition all year despite a relatively mediocre nonconference schedule. All the quality offensive groups they played, such as Gonzaga, Wisconsin and Missouri, beat them with relative ease.
Overall, the tempo and preference for Staten and Co. plays into the hands of what these Cyclones want to do. ISU is starting to click again following a rough stretch in mid January which saw them drop four of five. Their 3OT win last week in Stillwater provided them a significant amount of confidence considering the school had not won in that venue since 1988.
I look for a great match-up on Monday between these two schools. This conference has been jammed pack with quality games lately and I would not be surprised to see another one here.
This should also be a high scoring affair as it is the first meeting between two relatively new opponents given the relatively new membership of this WVU team in the Big 12. The early point spread doesn’t appear to have a ton of value given its proximity to a true money-line, but I would look to play the Cyclones should they have a rough go around in the first half and any second half total which significantly dilutes the likelihood that this one plays into the 160 range.
