Instant Reactions to West Virginia's Win Over Mercer

Morgantown, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (3-0) found themselves in a battle against the Mercer Bears (2-3) but chalked up their third win of the season with a 75-61 victory Thursday night at Hope Coliseum.

Senior guard Finley Bizjack led the Mountaineers with 15 points, while freshma guard Miles Sadler produced 12 points and six assists.

I laid out some of my thoughts on the Mountaineers slightly closer contest than expected.

First half offensive struggles

West Virginia had its worst performance of this young season in the first half against the Bears. The Mountaineers shot a mere 31.3% from the field, including 4-18 from three-point range, marking the worst half from the floor this year. The Mountaineers were getting good looks but just could not knock them down. However, they were not crisp with some of their passes and seemed to be a half a step behind executing the offense.

For reference, WVU had not shot under 48% from the field in a half this season. It also marked the first night a Mountaineer did not lead all scorers.

Meanwhile, West Virginia held Mercer to 32.1% shooting from the field to hold a 31-28 edge at the break.

West Virginia did shoot the ball better, likely due to playing with a little more urgency. The finished 13-26 from the floor in the second half to finish the night at 39.7%.

Rebounding

The rebounding numbers don’t look good. The Mountaineers did outrebound the Bears, 41-34, but allowed 14 offensive rebounds for 12 second chance points. However, some lucky bounces and bad misses fell in to the hands of the Bears, which some led to easy baskets.

Looking ahead to Auburn?

West Virginia will leave for Las Vegas next week for the Players Era Festival and will take on Auburn in game one. The lack of notoriety among West Virginia’s opponents early in the season might have had this group looking forward to next week, eager to make their mark on the national landscape.

It’s not uncommon for teams to look ahead at a marquee matchup, but in only game three of the season, there’s plenty to work on. I’m not suggesting West Virginia was sleepwalking through this game, but they didn’t play with the same tenacity they had in the previous two games.

I’ll chalk it up to slightly looking ahead and just an off-night shooting from the field. I will say it is a little concerning that everyone seemed to be cold on the same night as well as this group has played in the first two games.

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