Shanna Rose | WV Sports Chat
ORLANDO, Fla. — In the Big 12, the margin between moving up and falling back is razor thin.
West Virginia and UCF both enter Saturday’s matchup at Addition Financial Arena at 6-5 in conference play, but the similarities start to shift once you dig deeper.
The Knights (17-6) have been one of the toughest teams in the country to beat at home, going 12-2 inside Addition Financial Arena with losses only to No. 19 Vanderbilt and No. 1 Arizona. UCF is averaging 82.4 points per game and ranks third in the Big 12 in three-point shooting at 37.6 percent.
Head coach Johnny Dawkins was one of five Power Four coaches nationally who returned zero points from last season. The Mountaineers’ head coach Ross Hodge is another.
“You have to give coach Johnny Dawkins and his staff a ton of credit,” Hodge said. “Even though he’s been there 10 years, anytime you’re coaching a team that not one player is back from the year before and you have a winning record in the Big 12 and you’ve positioned yourself to be in the NCAA tournament; he’s done of the best coaching jobs this year that not a lot of people are talking about.”
UCF’s offense starts with point guard Themus Fulks, who averages 13.3 points and ranks second in the Big 12 with 6.6 assists per game. Dawkins has surrounded him with shooters in Riley Kugel, Jordan Burks, Carmelo Pacheco and Chris Johnson — all shooting 38 percent or better from three.
“To me, it starts with (Themus) Fulks,” Hodge said. “He’s been as impactful as any player has been in the Big 12 this year. As it pertains to the impact that one player has had on their team and the impact on winning, I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’s having a more impactful year than Fulks is.”
Kugel leads the Knights at 14.3 points per game, Burks averages 12.7 and Jamichael Stillwell adds 12.3 points and eight rebounds.
WVU(15-9) counters with one of the league’s top defenses, ranking second in the Big 12 in scoring defense (63.6 points allowed per game) and fifth in opponent shooting percentage (41.4 percent).
Offense has been the issue lately. The Mountaineers are averaging 57.4 points over their last five games and have not topped 70 since a 75-63 win over Arizona State on Jan. 21. Leading scorer Honor Huff (15.4 ppg) was held without a field goal in the loss to Texas Tech.
The margins in the middle of this league are extremely narrow. One slipup or one night off and you’re toast.
“Whether it’s Arizona, Houston, Iowa State or Kansas … not that those teams can’t lose to anybody any night, but they have separated themselves a little bit,” Hodge said. “I think what you see in the middle portion, or the bottom part of the league, is just a very small margin of error and separation on a nightly basis with any team really having the capability of beating any team.”
With March approaching, positioning matters.
“Over the course of this last month, I think you can see a lot of movement both ways and that’s where from my standpoint, and our team, it’s boring and no one wants to hear it, but you better just be thinking about that next game and not stray too far off from that,” Hodge said.
Saturday’s game tips at 6 p.m. and will air nationally on FS1.
Photo Credit: WVU Athletics
