WVU Basketball Takes a Dip in KenPom Rankings

Despite starting the season 2-0, WVU basketball took a slight dip in the KenPom rankings this week, sliding two spots from No. 73 to No. 75.

The Mountaineers began the preseason at No. 87 and rose to No. 73 after a convincing win over Robert Morris in the season opener. WVU won again on Saturday, 75-69, against UMass, but had to survive through a sub-par second half to do so.

WVU is 14th out of the 16 Big 12 teams, getting leapfrogged by Arizona State. The conference has six teams inside the top 13 of the rankings — Houston, Arizona, Kansas, Iowa State, Texas Tech and Cincinnati.

Big 12 KenPom Rankings

2. Houston
7. Arizona
8. Kansas
10. Iowa State
12. Texas Tech
13. Cincinnati
24. Baylor
32. BYU
50. TCU
51. Kansas State
63. UCF
65. Utah
67. Arizona State
75. West Virginia
84. Colorado
90. Oklahoma State

West Virginia played great in the first half versus the Minutemen on Friday and carried a 17-point lead into halftime, 45-28. After the break, however, the Mountaineers shot just 6-24 from the floor and let the Minutemen crawl back into the game.

UMass cut the lead to single digits several times in the second half, but WVU always responded with a bucket, a trip to the free throw line or a stop to hold onto the lead.

“Finding a way to win ugly is a quality too,” first-year WVU coach Darian DeVries said after the game. “It’s not going to be an 18-point lead every night and you sail off into the sunset. Some nights you’ve got to figure out a way, when it’s not going well and we’re not making shots, to still win that game.”

The Mountaineers have an entire week off until their next game, the Backyard Brawl at Pitt on Friday. The Panthers have started the season 2-0 and are No. 25 in the KenPom rankings.

Pitt took last year’s Brawl, 80-63 in Morgantown, breaking a six-game winning streak for the Mountaineers. It was the Panthers’ first victory in the series since 2012.

Pitt will try to beat its arch-rival at home for the first time since 2011 as tipoff for Friday’s meeting is scheduled for 8 p.m. inside Peterson Events Center in the Steel City. The game will be broadcast on the ACCNetwork.

For a related story, WVU basketball fans enjoyed the win vs. UMass despite second-half concerns.