After a historic upset victory against South Carolina on the road, the Boston University men’s basketball team will try to make history again as it attempts to win its first-ever Big 12 conference game against West Virginia University.
The Terriers (3-2) used a strong defensive effort to slip past South Carolina Tuesday, but will face a more difficult task against the Mountaineers (3-0), who have not scored less than 68 points in any of their three games this season.
West Virginia, led by head coach Bob Huggins, has been a consistent contender in the Big 12 conference and NCAA tournament throughout the last 13 years. Since the 2007-08 season when Huggins took over, the Mountaineers have made it to the NCAA tournament nine times, including five Sweet 16 appearances and one Final Four appearance in the 2009-10 season.
After a disappointing 2018-19 season, West Virginia is coming into this game undefeated, with three straight victories over the University of Akron, the University of Pittsburgh and the University of Northern Colorado.
The Mountaineers are heavily favored against the Terriers, according to the ESPN Basketball Power Index Matchup Predictor, which gives West Virginia an 86 percent chance of victory. Despite their disadvantage, the Terriers have gained momentum and BU head coach Joe Jones said he is confident in his team’s ability.
“We’re always confident,” Jones said. “We’re as confident against good teams as we are against any other team.”
So far this season the Terriers have been led offensively by sophomore guard Walter Whyte who is leading the team with a total of 82 points over the first five games, giving him an average 16.4 points per game, including two 23 point performances against Northeastern University and the State University of New York Polytechnic Institute.
Jones recognized Whyte’s play and said that his skills will continue to develop, even as opponents begin to design gameplans for him.
“He’s going to start to have more attention on him,” Jones said. “People are going to start doing different things, maybe start to chase him off of the three-point line, which is going to open up his ability to put the ball on the floor.”
Junior guard Javante McCoy has also been an impressive scorer for the Terriers this year, averaging 11.2 points per game and coming off a 17 point performance against South Carolina.
Despite their consistent offensive play, the Terriers will be challenged to keep up with West Virginia’s offense led by senior guard Jermaine Haley, which is averaging 77.0 points per game compared to BU’s 73.4 points per game.
West Virginia also out rebounds their opponents with the help of its 6-foot-9-inch freshman forward, Oscar Tshiebwe, who averages a team-high 9.7 rebounds per game. The team has been averaging 44 rebounds per game this season. On the other hand, BU, led by 6-foot-8-inch senior forward Max Mahoney, averages 35.4 rebounds per game.
One category in this matchup falling in the Terriers’ favor is field goal percentage. Over their first five games, the Terriers made 45.4 percent of their shots from the floor, while the Mountaineers made 44.6 percent of their shots.
The game will be a challenging one for the Terriers, but Jones stressed that the team is approaching this game like they do all other games.
“We’re going to approach the game just like we approached New Hampshire and Poly Tech,” Jones said.
BU will take on West Virginia on Nov. 22 at the WVU Coliseum.
