The West Virginia Mountaineers have sunk to their lowest point of the season after dropping their third straight game earlier this week, officially hitting the bottom of the mountain at the worst possible time.
Sitting in ninth place in the Big 12 Conference with a 16-12 overall record and a 7-8 mark in league play, it has been more of the same for Mountaineers, who haven't made March Madness since 2023.
After going 19-13 a year ago with an even 10-10 record in conference play, the Mountaineers once again find themselves fighting to stay out of the bottom half rather than pushing toward the top of the standings.
Now they turn their attention to the No. 19 BYU Cougars, a team that has shown it can beat anyone on a given night. The Cougars proved that with a road win over No. 6 Iowa State Cyclones, only to follow it up with their worst home loss in three years in a blowout defeat to UCF Knights, showing they can lose any given night as well.
In and out of conference play, WVU has had the worst offense in the Big 12 Conference, averaging just 69.5 points per game and dropping to a little over 63 per contest in league play.
In their latest loss to the Oklahoma State Cowboys, the West Virginia Mountaineers showed their best offensive effort in weeks, falling 91-84 in overtime on the road. On a night when their offense finally showed up, the defense slipped, allowing a season high 91 points in the defeat.
Before that, West Virginia went through an eight-game stretch where it topped 60 points only twice, highlighting just how limited this offense has been.
On a recent episode of the Locked On West Virginia podcast, Paul Rockel didn’t sugarcoat it when discussing the struggles.
“This is a West Virginia team that can be very, very poor on the offensive end of the floor," Rockel said. "I don't think anybody is surprised to hear that by now. This is a team that I watched go against Baylor 12 minutes without scoring the ball. That's how bad this offense can be at times.”
Further highlighting the offensive issues for the Mountaineers is the lack of individual production across the roster. West Virginia has just one player ranked inside the top 40 in scoring in the Big 12, and that is Honor Huff.
The senior, in his first season in Morgantown, has often looked like a man on an island in an offense that leans heavily on him.
Huff averages 15.5 points per game, but with the number of shots he takes and the defensive attention he faces, efficiency has been hard to come by. He is shooting just 36.5 percent from the field, showing how tough his looks are and how much of the scoring load he carries.
If West Virginia hopes to close the season on a strong note, the supporting cast has to shoulder more of the load. Players such as Brenen Lorient, Jasper Floyd and Chance Moore all shoot closer to 50 percent from the field, yet each hover around just 10 points per game.
Another difference maker can come in Treysen Eaglestaff. The North Dakota native is coming off one of his best games of the season where he compiled 18 points and going 7 of 13 from the field.
With the way the offense has struggled, it feels like the WVU may have to hold BYU to 65 points or fewer just to keep the game within reach. No team has managed to do that to BYU this season, which shows how difficult that task will be unless someone new steps up offensively in Morgantown.
It also will not be easy facing a motivated BYU squad. Speaking on the Locked On West Virginia podcast, BYUtv’s Dave McCann expects a strong response.
“I'll be shocked if they don't come out like caged maniacs ready to show their fan base that the team that their fans watched on Tuesday, that that's not them,” McCann said.
History favors the Cougars. BYU holds a 4-1 record all time against West Virginia, including three straight wins since both joined the Big 12 Conference. Two of those victories have come in Morgantown. The last time WVU beat BYU was in the programs’ first meeting back in 1947.
With just three games left for both teams, there is little room for error for either side trying to close the season on a positive note.
Will BYU bounce back with a road win against a team still licking its wounds, or can West Virginia take advantage of an unpredictable opponent and build some late-season momentum? Find out at 3:30 p.m. MST on FOX.