KANSAS CITY, MO — The West Virginia Mountaineers, 19-13, blew a 13 point lead in the first half, losing to perhaps the worst team in the Big 12 Conference, Colorado (14-19, 3-17), 61-56, in the second round of the Big 12 Tournament.
Here are my thoughts on the disappionting performance today:
West Virginia doesn´t have a true alpha. The Mountaineers lack a player that steps up in big moments and is willing or able to put an opponent away. Javon Small is probaly the best player in the entire Big 12 Conference, but he is far too passive in big moments when it really counts. West Virginia needs a player that can be counted on to score late in games when it´s needed and right now, unfortunately they just don´t have that.
West Virginia can´t allow bad teams to hang around. Colorado is not a good basketball team. They are one of, if not the, worst team in the Big 12, and this should have been a relatively easy game for the Mountaineers. West Virginia was up 13 points in the first half, but they continued to allow Colorado to hang around and stay in the game, and when the Mountaineers got cold offensively, Colorado took advantage and stole the game.
West Virginia still can´t find a consistent second scorer. The Mountaineers only had one player in double figures today and this has been an ongoing issues all season long. If a team shuts down Javon Small, who can West Virginia turn to for scoring? There just isn´t anyone on the team that has proven to be consistent enough this year. Amani Hansberry, Jonathan Powell and Joseph Yesufu have scored points throughout the season, but it´s never been consistent enough to be a Robin to Javon Small´s Batman. In order to make noise in the postseason, they´ll desperately need someone else other than Javon Small to step up big.
What´s Next? With the loss, the Mountaineers will now have to wait until Selection Sunday to see who they play in the NCAA Tournament. Despite the loss, West Virginia is still considered a lock to make the tournament, but they will likely drop to a 9 or 10 seed.
