WVU Drops Second in KC

West Virginia wrapped up their play in the Guardian's Classic with an 80-66 loss to Kentucky. WVU fell behind early 22-9, but scratched their way back into the game, led by Kevin Pittsnogle's 27 points, to be within 3 points in the last 8 minutes or so, but could not get any closer.

For the second game in a row, WVU allowed the opponent to shoot 54% from the floor, this time, WVU did not force the opponent into an alarming amount of turnovers, as they did against Texas. Kentucky committed just 10 last night, same as WVU, and WVU is never a team that will do their damage on the boards (even though it was nearly even on rebounds last night), but, if they are going to allow a high percentage of shooting fro their opponent, they need to make things up in other areas.

West Virginia trailed most of the game, which contributed to their launching of 37 3's, they made just 10. Once again, it was mostly their 5 seniors carrying the load, scoring 55 of the team's 66 points. They early season slate of difficult games has made it difficult to get some experience for players that are counted on to provide depth.

Dave Hickman of the Charleston-Gazette writes about WVU Short-comings Exposed in their two losses, as teams found it easier to score inside and then the inside-out game seemed to work as well.

The Kansas City Star also wraps up the Guardian's Classic: Guardian Classic Wrap-Up and has the story on the WVU-Kentucky game: UK Over WVU in Guardian Consolation.


WVU is back in action on Saturday, at home against LSU, and will retire the jersey of Jerry Wast: WVU to Retire West Jersey.