Takeaways: BYU’s Shooting Avoids WVU Home Magic

No. 22 BYU came into the WVU Coliseum, avoiding any more home magic by West Virginia. Let’s look at some takeaways from the game.

WVU Couldn’t Guard When BYU Spread the Floor

Coming into the game, BYU was second in the country in made three-pointers per game. The Cougars shoot a lot of threes but also shoot efficiently at 36%. West Virginia was obviously aware of this but still couldn’t guard BYU’s spacing. Many times BYU would drive on the baseline and kick it out to a shooter in the corner. WVU had no answer to that the whole game.

“We think it’s something very important for us,” BYU HC Mark Pope said about shooting from deep.

Postgame Reaction to WVU’s Home Loss to No. 22 BYU

Kriisa Forming into Go-To Guard

WVU G Kerr Kriisa has started to show consistency as a scorer, even so to where it can be debated that the Arizona transfer is the go-to scorer at the guard position. Kriisa is averaging 18.0 points, 4.3 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals in the last three games. Kriisa is also shooting 16-of-29 from the field and 13-of-24 from three during that stretch.

Kriisa topped off his nice stretch of play with 23 points, five rebounds, four assists and two steals against BYU, shooting 5-of-10 from three. Kriisa kept WVU in the game, cutting an 18-point deficit to five in the second half.

WVU Missed Chance to Hit Top of Conference

Once again, the Big 12 broke itself down on Saturday with Houston, Texas Tech, Oklahoma, Iowa State, Kansas State and TCU all losing. By West Virginia losing they couldn’t jump right back in the hunt with Kansas back in first place. The Mountaineers need to get their win total up but fighting for good seeding in Kansas City could help a miraculous chance at winning the conference tournament rather than playing day one.