WVU’s Losing Streak Pushed to Three with Poor Showing at Baylor

The Mountaineers had a great opportunity to pick up a statement win but failed to have a good showing against Baylor Saturday afternoon.

The No. 1 Baylor Bears (23-1, 12-0 Big 12) easily handled No. 14 West Virginia (18-7, 6-6) on their home court.

WVU did not have a good showing on either side of the ball, shooting only 19-55 (34.5%) from the floor while allowing Baylor to shoot 29-56 (51.8%). The Mountaineers also tied a season-high with 22 turnovers. It was the third time this season the team had more turnovers than made field goals.

In the first half, Baylor had runs of 8-0, 7-0 and 8-0 to build up a lead as big as 19 points. West Virginia finished the half on an 8-0 run however to trail only 33-22 at halftime.

West Virginia could not capitalize on the momentum to start the second half, however, as the Bears went on a 20-3 run to start the second half. West Virginia would not even score its first basket until more than nine minutes into the half. After that WVU would never get the game back into single-digit points and lost by 11 points in the end, 70-59.

The Bears were paced by Jared Butler who led all scorers with 21 points on 8-11 shooting. Davion Mitchell scored 13 points with nine assists and Matthew Mayer had 13 points and eight rebounds.

The Mountaineers were led on offense by Taz Sherman who scored all 20 of his points in the second half. The 20 points and five three-pointers are season highs for Sherman. Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe had a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds and also fouled out of the game for the first time in his career.

West Virginia will look to snap its losing streak at home Tuesday against Oklahoma State. The Mountaineers and Cowboys tip-off in the WVU Coliseum at 7 p.m.