Mountaineers Now Postgame Show: WVU Drops Heartbreaker to OSU
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00:00 [MUSIC PLAYING]
00:03 Hello, everybody, and welcome into the Mountaineers Now
00:12 post-game show presented by Country Roads Air Duct
00:14 Cleaning, West Virginia.
00:16 Falling in Stillwater today, 70 to 66.
00:20 A quick look here at the numbers.
00:22 Kirk Crease goes for 21 points.
00:25 He was hot from three-point range, six of eight.
00:27 Quince Lozinski also did his thing from deeps,
00:30 going four for six.
00:32 18 points.
00:32 Brandon Garrison, the leading getter for the Cowboys,
00:36 with 20 points, five boards, and four assists.
00:40 As a team, West Virginia shot 10 of 22 from the arc.
00:43 And turnovers, although there was only 12 of them,
00:45 they were quite timely and had been a little bit problematic
00:49 throughout this game for West Virginia.
00:52 But really, the biggest thing that stands out
00:54 in terms of the team stats, Oklahoma State
00:56 goes 20 of 26 from the free throw line.
01:00 So Chris, let's go and break this one down.
01:02 What did you think?
01:04 One field goal in the last five minutes.
01:06 I'll do it every time.
01:08 Eight to two run, right?
01:10 Yeah, you can't finish games like that.
01:15 I'll just go on positive.
01:16 Obviously, they didn't finish down the end.
01:19 But hey, they matched the energy at the beginning,
01:23 kept pace with them, didn't go down double-digit lead,
01:25 and gave themselves a chance down the stretch.
01:28 Just didn't convert.
01:31 Probably defensively a little slow.
01:35 Oklahoma State took advantage of it,
01:36 took advantage of Jesse a little bit with his art wrist,
01:39 sent him to the free throw line at times,
01:41 and he obviously struggled from the free throw line.
01:45 So it just really what sticks out to me is that one field goal.
01:49 Pat Somnick lay in.
01:50 It was actually a goal-tending as well.
01:52 So when you can't convert down the stretch,
01:55 you're not going to win games.
01:57 Oklahoma State definitely gave them every opportunity
01:59 down the stretch because they weren't exactly
02:01 on the fire down the last five minutes as well.
02:05 So one of those days, they gave themselves a chance.
02:09 You can take the positive way that they actually played hard
02:12 and with intensity throughout the game,
02:14 just couldn't convert in the end.
02:16 And that's the most frustrating thing about this team.
02:19 They give max effort almost every single night.
02:22 And it's just one thing after another,
02:24 whether it was the eligibility issues or suspensions
02:27 or guys being hurt.
02:29 And then this is the first game
02:30 where you have the full boat back together,
02:32 and it's just a little dry spell at the end of the game
02:35 that keeps you from winning it.
02:37 And when I look at the box score here,
02:39 I didn't even realize this.
02:41 Kirk Crease had 21, as we already mentioned.
02:44 The rest of the starting five had a combined 12 points.
02:48 That's just -- I mean, and three of them had two points each.
02:50 That's not going to help you very much.
02:52 Quinn Slezenski was phenomenal off the bench, as we mentioned.
02:55 But outside of Crease, Slezenski,
02:58 and a little bit of contribution there from Noah Farrakhan,
03:01 who was a couple rebounds away from a double-double,
03:05 there really wasn't much offensively for them
03:07 going in this one.
03:08 And I don't know if that's just trying to find the rhythm,
03:11 the chemistry, the flow with everyone being back together,
03:14 but it was not necessarily the prettiest shows on that end.
03:19 No, but I thought they moved the ball better.
03:21 Turnover is still a little bit of an issue,
03:24 but they moved.
03:25 They gave themselves good looks.
03:28 They gave Crease too much room, and he converted.
03:31 So it really is just came down the stretch.
03:36 You need more offensive output, but everyone's keying on battle.
03:40 I'm not giving him much space at all.
03:42 Credit to him for not forcing a bunch of shots
03:44 and letting Slezenski and Kerr work.
03:47 Noah Farrakhan had a nice game, had some nice buckets.
03:51 So I think you're getting a better team effort.
03:53 Anything I'd like to see is Jesse not play as much.
03:55 I know he's probably going to struggle.
03:58 That risk is obviously still going to be tender,
04:00 probably played too many minutes today.
04:02 But he's definitely a game changer around the rim
04:06 with that length.
04:07 But Pat, it looks like he's lost a little bit of his confidence
04:10 after the last game.
04:11 Maybe that had something to do with it as well.
04:14 Get him back home.
04:15 He seems to play really well there.
04:17 Yeah, just need to convert down the stretch.
04:20 I can't really blame tired legs like he
04:21 could at the beginning of the year.
04:23 Full compliment roster.
04:24 Although Jesse is hindered a little bit,
04:26 probably going to still take a couple of weeks for him
04:28 to be at full strength to get him comfortable back
04:31 in the playing shape and comfortable with his wrist.
04:34 So we'll have to kind of see what happens
04:37 at home against Cincinnati.
04:38 Maybe they can get it out to a big lead
04:40 and early start against the Cincinnati team.
04:43 That's going to be physical and tough in the paint as well.
04:48 Yeah, you talked about Raekwon there.
04:50 In his last two games, he is 3 for 12 from the field,
04:53 0 for 4 from 3, has six turnovers.
04:57 I mean, what's going on with Raekwon,
04:59 at least in these last two games?
05:01 I mean, he's going to have a down night every once in a while.
05:03 But is there anything that is kind of peaking up
05:06 as a red flag at this point?
05:08 Not really.
05:09 Just going to have to work a little harder off the ball.
05:11 Probably something that he didn't
05:13 have to do until elevating until the Big 12.
05:16 It's obviously the best basketball conference.
05:18 Week in and night out, you're going
05:20 to get the best of the best.
05:22 And they got athletes that can run with them.
05:24 So he's just going to work harder off the ball.
05:26 We've talked about it for the last few years.
05:28 You have to run off those ball screens, right?
05:30 Screen has to be there.
05:31 A lot of things have to happen for that to work correctly.
05:35 If you run wide on a screen, they're
05:37 going to be able to slip right by and you're not
05:38 going to have any space at all.
05:39 So he's just going to have to work a little harder
05:41 off the ball, and that way he's not
05:43 going to have to force up shots.
05:44 He definitely forced up some, but he makes a lot of those
05:47 shots.
05:47 So again, I just kind of credit him
05:49 for not forcing the issue on the offensive end.
05:52 But he's just going to have to find ways to get him the ball
05:56 and maybe some double screens, something
05:59 to get him some open looks, especially around the perimeter.
06:02 Yeah, Jesse Edwards, he finished with four points, four rebounds,
06:05 a pair of steals on the day.
06:08 Not a crazy stat line for Jesse.
06:10 It's actually very pedestrian for him,
06:12 obviously, considering the circumstances.
06:15 But I think we've seen some flashes today with him
06:19 and Kirk Crease, that little two-man action.
06:21 That can be something that's going to really take
06:23 this offense, I think, to the next level in terms
06:26 of their efficiency and their effectiveness.
06:28 Because before, you haven't had that.
06:30 You haven't had anybody down there that could really
06:33 pose a threat off the pick and roll.
06:34 Pat Sumnit could, I guess, but not to this level.
06:37 I mean, Jesse Edwards is a freak,
06:40 I mean, if we're just being frank here.
06:42 But again, it's going to take a little bit of time for him
06:45 to get back into speed.
06:47 Until that happens, I mean, do you
06:49 feel like they still need Pat Sumnit
06:53 to be what he was through that stretch of games
06:55 where they beat Texas and beat Kansas?
06:57 Or does Jesse Edwards' being back alone help?
07:03 Pat's going to have to get back to what he was.
07:05 And some of that just may be with Edwards being--
07:09 [INTERPOSING VOICES]
07:11 No, just him being back, he's not really
07:13 getting in the rhythm into the game today.
07:16 So asking him to kind of notch it up to good defense today,
07:20 probably just fell out of rhythm a little bit.
07:21 Probably wanted to play Edwards a little more.
07:23 But I guess I probably shouldn't have played Edwards that much.
07:26 You could definitely tell in the defensive end,
07:28 he was favoring that risk.
07:29 Definitely hurt on the boards.
07:31 So it's not an easy task, especially
07:35 when you want probably, arguably, your best
07:37 player out on the floor.
07:38 But again, some of that may just be
07:41 doing-- assuming that Kevin had a bad game the other day,
07:43 maybe lost his confidence a little bit.
07:45 Yeah, well, I mean, we talked about it,
07:48 I believe, after the Kansas game.
07:49 Look, you have this little stretch here
07:51 where things get lighter in the schedule against UCF
07:54 and Oklahoma State, Cincinnati.
07:57 They're 0-2 in this stretch so far.
07:59 And at 7-13, I mean, again, there's
08:01 no chance at large, but at this point.
08:05 But there still is a lot of runway left in Big 12
08:08 play to where you can get a pretty good seed
08:11 and position yourself nicely to make a run in Kansas City.
08:14 But they've got to turn it around fast
08:16 because the schedule is going to start picking back up again
08:18 here soon.
08:20 But they do return home Wednesday
08:22 to take on Cincinnati.
08:23 That one will air at 7 o'clock on ESPN+.
08:26 Cincinnati currently 13-6 on the season.
08:30 And they have UCF tonight at 7 o'clock.
08:34 So that record will obviously change.
08:36 But big one for West Virginia, wouldn't you
08:39 think, to get back home, get back in the win column.
08:41 You have two games coming up here, Cincinnati, BYU.
08:44 You have to almost split at worst, right?
08:48 Oh, you got to win them both.
08:49 I still think they could get an at-large bid.
08:51 But I mean, the loss is you're probably
08:53 going to lose one or two more games.
08:55 And you still got to do some damage in the Big 12
08:57 tournament.
08:58 Yeah.
08:59 They've got a lot of work to do.
09:00 And this lighter load, I don't know if it's really a--
09:04 yeah, technically, I guess it's a lighter load.
09:06 But it's going to be a battle each and every night.
09:08 And hopefully, Jesse's wrist didn't get too banged up today.
09:11 And he can heal and feel more comfortable Tuesday
09:13 and kind of get him back in the rhythm
09:14 and pad in there for a good 15, 20 minutes of what
09:18 he was doing.
09:18 And it will open things up on the outside
09:21 when you can have a little bit of scoring in the paint.
09:23 Happened with Carissa today.
09:26 Some of the looks he got from three-point range,
09:28 tied a career high to see, obviously, a season high.
09:30 So they've got the offense.
09:33 Do you like more consistency from your guards scoring?
09:36 I think Farrah Collins, one of the more consistent players,
09:39 getting to the--
09:40 either getting to the line or getting to the paint.
09:42 Some of them hadn't fallen.
09:43 But he's been kind of deadly at times.
09:45 I just kind of need to put it all together.
09:46 And still, it feels like it should
09:49 be November with this group.
09:50 But there is January, and they're still
09:52 trying to figure it out.
09:54 Yeah, it would be quite the interesting story, I would say,
09:59 if this team had the full boat at the beginning of the year.
10:01 I mean, I think that you could probably
10:04 almost flip the record.
10:05 I think you'd be safe in saying they'd be close to about 13
10:08 and 7 or so at this point.
10:10 They wouldn't have dropped some of those games
10:11 earlier on in on-conference play.
10:12 But it is what it is.
10:14 The margin for error right now is razor thin for this group.
10:18 Again, they play Cincinnati back at the WVU Coliseum
10:22 on Wednesday at 7 o'clock.
10:24 We'll have the coverage for you leading up to that one
10:26 and also after here on the Mountain
10:28 Ears Now post-game show presented by Country Roads,
10:31 AirDuck Cleaning, take me home to comfort.
10:34 For Christopher Hall, I'm Skylar Callan.
10:35 We thank you guys for tuning in.
10:37 And make sure you hit the Subscribe button at Mountain
10:39 Ears Now on YouTube.
10:40 Give us a like and a follow on X at the same handle.
10:44 And we'll be back Monday morning for an episode of Between Ears.
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