West Virginia Looks to Ride Momentum Against No. 11 Iowa State
Morgantown, WV - The West Virginia Mountaineers (14-9. 3-7) are seeking their fourth top 25 win this season as they welcome the No. 11 Iowa State Cyclones (16-6, 7-3) inside the WVU Coliseum Wednesday night at 7:00 p.m. EST with the action airing on ESPN2.
The Cyclones have kept pace atop the Big 12 Conference standings and are coming off an impressive 68-53 win over the Kansas Jayhawks on Saturday, a much-needed win after dropping four of their last six outings but they did notched wins over Kansas State and Texas.
Iowa State boasts the best scoring defense in the conference, holding Big 12 opponents to 63.8 points per game, and a league-best 3.2 turnover margin.
“Offensively, they run good stuff, so they don’t put their selves in bad positions in transition,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “They’re a really good transition defensive team. So, everybody has to play against their set defense, and they have shot blockers.”
![Iowa State University Cyclones guard Gabe Kalscheur (22) drives to the basket around Kansas Jayhawks forward Jalen Wilson (10) during the second half at Hilton Coliseum Saturday, Feb. 4, 2023, in Ames, Iowa.](https://www.si.com/.image/t_share/MTk1NzI4NDIyMzczMTczMTg1/usatsi_19923961_168388579_lowres.jpg)
Gabe Kalscheur leads the Cyclones in scoring during Big 12 play, averaging 17.1 ppg on 41.7% from three-point range, which ranks second in the league. His teammate, guard Caleb Grill, leads the conference from behind the arc at 42.6% in Big 12 action while averaging 11.3 ppg. The senior’s career-best eight three-pointers against Texas Tech last week were responsible for a career-high 24 points.
Guard Jaren Holmes leads the team in scoring on the season with 13.6 points per game while dishing a team-leading 3.3 assists per game.
West Virginia is coming off arguably its best performance of the season with an emphatic 93-61 win over the Oklahoma Sooners to split the season series.
Erik Stevenson has produced two 30-plus point games in the last three games. In the two contests, the guard shot 61% (13-21) from three-point range and marked a career-high 31 points against Auburn before surpassing the mark against the Sooners on Saturday with 34. The senior is averaging a team-leading 14.9 ppg.
“I’m sure they’re [Iowa State] going to put an emphasis on guarding him,” said Huggins. “They’ll probably switch everything – they switch a lot anyway. They’ll probably try to take him to the loaded side of the floor so they can get help there faster.” Huggins also noted Stevenson getting extra attention happens all the time and, “We have other people very capable of scoring.”
The Mountaineers have now won three out of their last four games, including winning three out of the last five Big 12 matchups after starting the conference slate 0-5.
“I think we’re a lot better defensively – playing harder,” said Huggins.
“Their approach has been better,” later added Huggins. The fact of the matter is, if everybody played to their potential, we’re really good – everybody hasn’t. Erik’s just starting to play to what we all thought Erik would be.”
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Five Mountaineers have led the team in scoring this season. Tre Mitchell was averaging a team-best 13.6 points per game heading into the matchup versus TCU on Jan. 18 but has averaged 7.3 points in his last six games.
Trey carried us for a while - he’s struggling a little bit,” stated Huggins before indicating if a few shots go in early in the contest, his slump will end.
Huggins also cited the play of forwards Jimmy Bell Jr., James Okonkwo and Mohamed Wague. Bell tied a career-high 15 points in the win over Auburn. Okonkwo produced his first career double double against Oklahoma, tying a career-high 10 rebounds and notching a career high 10 points while Wague has seven points and 11 rebounds in 22 minutes of action in the last two games.
West Virginia leads the all-time series 12-9. The Cyclones snapped a six-game skid against the Mountaineers with an 84-81 victory at Iowa State
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