Mountaineers Fall One Spot in Latest AP Poll

After losing at No. 3 Kansas Saturday, the West Virginia Mountaineers have only fallen one spot in the newest AP Top 25 Poll, to No. 17 this week.

The Mountaineers jumped six spots, 22 to 16, in last week’s rankings after defeating then-No. 2 Ohio State. The loss at Kansas was just the team’s second on the season and appears to not have hurt their standing too much.

Fellow Big 12 teams in ranked in the Top-25 include previously mentioned No. 3 Kansas (no change), No. 4 Baylor (up two) and No. 22 Texas Tech (no change).

With conference play now begun, West Virginia ranked highly in the Big 12 in several categories. The Mountaineers are first in the conference in opponent field goal percentage (36.2%) and opponent three-point percentage (24.9%). They also lead the conference in rebounding (548, 42.2 per game) and offensive rebounding (193, 14.8) and rank fourth in defensive rebounds (355, 27.3).

Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe leads the conference in offensive rebounding (56, 4.3 per game) and sophomore Derek Culver leads the conference in overall rebounding (125, 9.6).

The Mountaineers take on the 9-4 Oklahoma State Cowboys tonight at 9 p.m. The Cowboys are coming off of a loss to Texas Tech on Saturday. After that West Virginia will finally return home on Jan. 11 to take on the Red Raiders in the WVU Coliseum at 6 p.m.