WVU Basketball Takes a Dive in KemPom Rankings Following Brawl Loss

A blowout loss to Pitt in the Backyard Brawl has sent WVU basketball tumbling down the KenPom rankings, falling from No. 75 to No. 85.

The Mountaineers dipped one spot despite beating UMass last week and have now fallen 10 spaces after losing 86-62 to the Panthers. The 24-point loss was WVU’s largest loss in the rivalry since 2003.

West Virginia is now the 15th out of 16 Big 12 teams in the KemPom rankings, ahead of only Oklahoma State (90). The conference has four teams in the top 10 (Houston at 2, Kansas at 7, Iowa State at 8 and Texas Tech at 9) and seven teams in the top 20 (Cincinnati at 11, Arizona at 15 and Baylor at 16).

Big 12 KenPom Rankings

2. Houston
7. Kansas
8. Iowa State
9. Texas Tech
11. Cincinnati
15. Arizona
16. Baylor
23. BYU
55. Utah
56. Arizona State
58. UCF
61. TCU
64. Kansas State
74. Colorado
85. West Virginia
90. Oklahoma State

West Virginia had major issues shooting the ball all night against Pitt on Friday. The Mountaineers finished 24-62 (38.7%) from the floor and 6-29 (20.7%) on three-pointers. The team started 0-8 from range until Jonathon Powell finally hit one with 4:24 to play in the first half.

Pitt, meanwhile, was shooting lights out to begin the game. The Panthers made half of their first dozen attempts from deep, building a 35-14 lead at one point in the first half.

Top players Tucker DeVries and Javon Small combined for just 18 points on 7-24 shooting (2-10 from three) as no one stepped up on offense for WVU.

West Virginia is back in action on Wednesday, hosting Iona in the WVU Coliseum at 7 p.m. The Gaels are 1-3 on the season with losses to Princeton, Hofstra and Delaware. Iona picked up its first win of the year with a 62-59 win over Vermont on Friday.

Dejour Reaves led Iona with 22 points on 7-16 shooting in the win.

For a related story, Darian DeVries said a lack of size wasn’t the biggest issue for WVU basketball on Friday.