No. 10 West Virginia made a statement from the opening tip against No. 1 Baylor on Tuesday night: Bob Huggins’ team wasn’t going to be intimidated in the slightest against the top-ranked team in America. The Mountaineers took control early and ran away with a 89-68 home victory, making the Bears the fourth No. 1 team to lose this season.
No. 10 West Virginia upsets No. 1 Baylor, the 4th No. 1 team to lose this season
Another top-ranked team goes down, and this time it was a blowout.
Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports
Ricky O'Donnell has covered basketball at all levels for more than a decade at SB Nation. He’s currently the Associate Director of Programming.
West Virginia was paced by guard Jevon Carter, who finished with 17 points and seven assists, and forward Nathan Adrian, who chipped in 22 points and six rebounds.
Yes, there was a court storming
West Virginia entered as the nation’s leader in takeaway rate, per KenPom, and it lived up to its billing on this night. Baylor’s previous high for turnovers in a game this season was 16 — which was how many takeaways West Virginia forced in the first half alone. On the night, Baylor turned the ball over 29 times. Meanwhile, West Virginia finished with only 10 turnovers.
The Mountaineers took a seven-point lead into halftime, and blew open the game in the final 20 minutes behind some hot shooting and timely ball movement. On the night, the Mountaineers hit nine threes at a 42 percent clip and finished with a 20-12 advantage in assists.
Terry Maston led Baylor with 10 points. This is not how Baylor wanted its first-ever game with No. 1 next to its name to go.
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