Takeaways: WVU Steals a Game Over UC They Shouldn’t Have Won

WVU Basketball defeated Cincinnati 69-65 on Wednesday night, outlasting the Bearcats in the final minutes. Let’s look at some takeaways from the game.

West Virginia Stole the Game

The Mountaineers trailed 60-50 with six minutes to go after a made basket by UC’s Simas Lukosius. From that point on, WVU outscored Cincinnati 19-5. West Virginia played a good final minutes but Cincinnati had control for the majority of the game. The Bearcats had horrible shot selection and couldn’t hit anything offensively while WVU got back into the game. West Virginia couldn’t rebound throughout the game and relied a lot of their offense on Jesse Edwards, who still has his right wrist taped up.

Down the stretch, Edwards made big plays to get the crowd back into the game. WVU G RaeQuan Battle also hit a critical three-pointer with a minute left after Lukosius hit a three.

West Virginia has lost a lot of games where they were in a position to win, so you can say the win over Cincinnati can even things out.

Edwards Showed Progress

Edwards returned to the floor against Oklahoma State, playing in a limited 16 minutes. Edwards clearly looked uncomfortable, especially when shooting free throws. Against UC, Edwards looked more like his usual self, especially in the second half.

The 6-foot-11 center finished the game with 25 points, 10 rebounds and four blocks against a Cincinnati frontcourt with a lot of size. Edwards did struggle from the charity stripe, shooting 3-of-9. Edwards did take over the second half by shooting a perfect 9-of-9 from the field.

If Edwards can consistently get back to WVU’s go-to player, the Mountaineers will be a tough beat for Big 12 teams.

WVU is Competitive… at Home

West Virginia is currently 3-1 in their home games during Big 12 play. WVU has defeated Texas, Kansas and Cincinnati at home, proving that they can compete with any Big 12 team at the Coliseum. The reality is this team is still searching for a win outside of Morgantown this season at 0-8; 0-4 in true road games, and 0-4 on a neutral site.

WVU has struggled rebounding and finding an offensive identity all season but now they have the talent to compete with conference teams in their home venue.

West Virginia will host No. 22 BYU on Saturday night, looking for more Morgantown magic.