Takeaways: Scoring Droughts Hurt WVU Basketball in Loss to Clemson

WVU basketball suffered its first loss of the season in heart-breaking fashion Friday, dropping an 11-point second half lead to Clemson in the first round of the Shriner’s Children’s Charleston Classing.

Here is what stood out from the 70-67 loss.

Scoring Droughts

When the WVU offense was good, it was great Friday. However, it was at its worst in the final 10 minutes of the contest.

There were three four-minute stretches in Friday’s game where WVU failed to score a field goal and two of them were in the final 12 minutes. The first one of the second half resulted in a 9-4 run for Clemson while the second drought let the Tigers take the lead with a 9-0 run.

WVU failed to score from the 4:44 mark in the second half until there was 58 seconds remaining. During this stretch, the Mountaineers left junior forward Carter Wellings wide open for consecutive three-pointers as Clemson took the lead.

Second-Half Defense

After holding Clemson to just 25 points in the first half, WVU basketball gave up 45 points in the second half as Clemson shot 56% from the floor and 55.6% from three-point range.

“Simply put, I felt like down the stretch they were able to execute at a higher level than we were. They got the ball where they wanted it. They finished. We had a hard time getting the ball where we wanted and when we did, we didn’t finish,” Ross Hodge said to take the blame in the postgame press conference.

Chance Moore Shows Flashes in First Game

On a positive note for WVU, fifth-year guard Chance Moore was a bright spot in his first taste of action as a Mountaineer. He made two highlight plays in the first half with a dunk through contact and a half court shot to beat the halftime buzzer.

Moore finished the game with 12 points on 6-12 shooting and 24 minutes, seeing more time than starting senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff who saw just 17 minutes in the game.

WVU basketball will take the court again at 3:30 p.m. on Sunday when it plays Georgia/Xavier in the next round of the Shriner’s Children’s Charleston Classic in Charleston, S.C.

Find more coverage of WVU basketball program at WV Sports Now.

For a related story, WVU fans voiced their frustrations all over social media.