The Diehard Breakdown: Oklahoma St. 81 WVU 75

[WvuDieHard]

This game was played as expected. WV would come in and make a threat but fade with the young players in the 2nd half—and that was exactly the scenario. WV played a pretty good game offensively but again it was the defense that killed us today. People turning to the basket and not boxing out, no switching , players lost in a 1-3-1 and in man-to-man. After the next 9 games, this club will be schooled because the teams they play will bring all they can handle. But you know what, it is gonna make them better in the long run and certainly hungry next year.
After watching Marcus Smart today, I am convinced he is not the best player in America but the dirtiest one. I saw a thug attitude today while throwing shoulders, elbows and face rakes on shots. No question, the dirtiest player I have seen in quite some time. Never would I give the player of the year in college basketball to a PUNK like that. I have played against his kind before and the solution is to attack him early and often.
Key Stats: How bout 15 WV turnovers or 21-57 from the field. WV did win the battle of the glass 41-36. Harris scores 21 and Staten 19 to lead the way for WV.
In today’s Diehard did you know segment: Did you know the zebras called 56 personal fouls in this game, 32 against WV? 66 FT were attempted in this game. That was a very poor job officiating as the ticky tack shit hurt WV.
In conclusion, we keep watching and looking for improvement especially on defense. Have a great day Mountaineer fans wherever your country road has taken you.

 

[WVUDAD]

six players fouled out in this game, four from WVU................. sure as hell wasn't a BE officiating crew was it?

 

[aussierugbyfan]

I so totally agree about Smart, and I thought our boys did a good job of containing him for the most part.

Williams could not buy a foul under the basket - quite a few times it was hard to believe someone was not called for slapping on Williams arms under the basket.

All in all I thought they played a decent game - just came up short.

 

[ralphiewvu]

The refs were absolute garbage.

But at the end of the day when you have stupid turnovers and lack of boxing out, you aren't going to win much, especially on the road.

 

[GoldRusher]

Still a few bigs away from being about where we need to be. The new rules are not geared to how Huggs like to play but the need of an inside presence was obvious with the lack of rebounding, especially late. Lets hope Huggs finds a guy that can get on the court.