WVU MBB Bounces Back from OT Loss to Win Over Ranked BYU; NCAA Hopes Remain
By: Justin Walker & Shanna Rose | WV Sports Chat
After two consecutive losses, including one at home to Utah, who currently sits in last place in the Big 12, the West Virginia men’s basketball team split a pair of games last week. It started with their third consecutive loss. It came in overtime at the hands of Oklahoma State in Stillwater. Then, they bounced back on Saturday to defeat the number 19 BYU Cougars in Morgantown.
Oklahoma State Loss
Kanye Clary scored 17 points and Oklahoma State opened overtime with a decisive 7-0 run to defeat West Virginia 91-84 on Tuesday night, snapping a five-game losing streak at Gallagher-Iba Arena.
The Cowboys outscored the Mountaineers 14-7 in the extra period and never relinquished control after Anthony Roy converted a three-point play to start overtime. Parsa Fallah added a free throw and Jaylen Curry buried a 3-pointer to give Oklahoma State an 84-77 lead with 1:55 remaining. WVU pulled within five twice in the final 33 seconds but got no closer.
The Mountaineers (16-12, 7-8 Big 12) rallied from a 14-point second-half deficit and led twice in the final 10 minutes of regulation, at 59-57 with 9:26 remaining and 72-71 with 4:22 to play. But Fallah and Clary answered with back-to-back 3-pointers to put the Cowboys back in front, 77-72, with 3:06 left.
“To their credit, they jumped up and made some bombs, they really did,” WVU head coach Ross Hodge said of Oklahoma State’s late 3-point shooting.
Chance Moore fueled the Mountaineers’ late push, scoring five straight points, including the tying basket with 19 seconds left to knot the game at 77. After a timeout, WVU used two fouls to give and forced Clary into a long 3-point attempt at the buzzer that missed, sending the game to overtime.
In the extra session, the Mountaineers missed four of six point-blank attempts, and the Cowboys capitalized.
“We were able to get it into overtime and felt really good about that, but they were able to execute down the stretch better than we did,” Hodge said. “They got the ball where they wanted and were able to convert it. We got the ball to some places that we wanted to get it to and didn’t convert it.”
Fallah led Oklahoma State with 18 points and eight rebounds. Clary added 17 points, Curry had 15 and Andrija Vukovic finished with 12. Roy and Christian Coleman each scored 10 for the Cowboys (17-11, 5-10), which held a 40-33 rebounding edge and converted 19 of 27 free throws. WVU was 6 of 12 from the line.
“I thought the first half was probably as poor a first half defensively as we’ve played, if you just look at the numbers,” Hodge said. “They are a good offensive team; they play with a lot of pace and a lot of confidence, and I just felt like we allowed them to establish a little too much of a rhythm and didn’t make them miss.
“I thought Jasper (Floyd’s) foul trouble in the first half really hurt us, and our point-of-attack defense just wasn’t good enough,” Hodge added. “We gave up penetration after penetration, and it was just too easy.”
Oklahoma State closed the first half on a 9-0 run to take a 46-33 lead and pushed the margin to 49-35 early in the second on a pair of Vukovic free throws. The Mountaineers responded with a 10-0 run to grab its first lead, 56-55, with 10:48 remaining.
Honor Huff led WVU with 20 points, hitting six 3-pointers. Treysen Eaglestaff added 18, Moore had 14 points and a game-high 10 rebounds, and Brenen Lorient scored 12.
The Cowboys’ victory was tempered late when Fallah punctuated the win with a dunk in the final seconds but landed awkwardly on his left knee and had to be helped off the floor.
Win Against BYU
Brenen Lorient set the tone inside and Honor Huff delivered his usual steadiness on the perimeter as West Virginia controlled the second half and knocked off No. 19 BYU, 79-71, on Saturday night at a sold-out Hope Coliseum.
Lorient finished with 18 points and nine rebounds, battling all night in the paint, while Huff led the Mountaineers with 19 points as WVU snapped a three-game losing streak and earned its second win over a ranked Big 12 opponent this season. The Mountaineers (17-12, 8-8 Big 12) never trailed after halftime and held off every Cougar push down the stretch.
The win was fueled by timely contributions from Chance Moore and Jasper Floyd, whose impact went beyond the box score. Moore scored 11 of his 11 points during a decisive first-half surge and helped WVU seize control early, while Floyd’s composure at the point steadied the Mountaineers on both ends as BYU attempted to rally. Their presence was central to the Mountaineers building a double-digit halftime lead and maintaining balance late.
WVU forced nine Cougars’ turnovers in the first half and turned a tight game into separation with a 20-5 run, capped by 11 points from Moore, to take a 40-26 advantage into the break. DJ Thomas came off the bench to add 13 points, most of them in the opening half, as WVU put together one of its most complete offensive stretches of the season.
“Jasper got us off to a great start with his command on both ends of the floor,” Mountaineer head coach Ross Hodge said. “We got incredible contributions from a lot of people, and that’s typically been when we’re at our best.”
BYU (20-9, 8-8) leaned on Robert Wright III, who scored a game-high 23 points, and AJ Dybantsa, who added 20. Dybantsa, a projected top pick in the 2026 NBA draft, was limited to four points on 1-of-4 shooting in the first half before finding a rhythm after halftime. He scored 11 points over a five-minute stretch midway through the second half, but the Cougars never fully closed the gap.
Keba Keita’s steal and layup pulled the Cougars within 74-71 with 1:11 remaining, but BYU came up empty on their final two possessions following steals, turning the ball over both times. WVU closed it out at the line, making five of six free throws in the final 26 seconds.
“First and foremost, I thought Hope Coliseum was special today and I had a feeling it would be,” Hodge said. “I’m just super-appreciative of what makes this place special. We’ve lost some tough ones in this stretch, and to have a sellout crowd and the energy from the jump was amazing.”
The victory improved the Mountaineers to 2-4 against AP Top 25 opponents and kept WVU in the NCAA Tournament discussion, evening its league record and giving them a tiebreaker edge over the Cougars.
The Mountaineers head to Kansas State on Tuesday night.
March Madness Chances
According to ESPN Bracket expert Joe Lunardi, the win over the Cougars on Saturday seemingly helped improve the Mountaineers chances of getting into March Madness.
Before the contest, West Virginia had dropped three straight games and found themselves just outside the bubble in the “Next Four” category.
After picking up the Quad 1 win over BYU, their chances of getting into March Madness look a little better. Lunardi now has the Mountaineers on the “Next Four Out” line. Joining West Virginia basketball on that line are USC, California and Cincinnati. WVU has played the Bearcats twice this season. They swept the series against their Big 12 Conference counterparts.
Ross Hodge and his squad have two games remaining on the season. They travel to Manhattan, Kansas on Tuesday night to take on an 11-18 Kansas State team who are playing with an interim head coach. The Wildcats fired former coach Jerome Tang earlier this season.
WVU finishes the regular season this Saturday as they welcome the UCF Knights (20-8) to Morgantown. West Virginia has already defeated UCF once this season. It was a 74-67 win in Orlando on February 14.
Winning both games to finish the regular season will be crucial if the Mountaineers want to sneak into the Big Dance. Even then, they may still need some help or to make a run in the Big 12 Tournament to secure a spot.