West Virginia’s men’s basketball team needs wins, plain and simple. While the Mountaineers are OK in most metrics, such as the NET, their win total of 12 lags behind many of their competitors for spots in the NCAA Tournament, and while there’s no baseline cutoff for consideration there, WVU needs at least six or seven more triumphs to get into consideration. With as few as 12 games remaining, this is one that Bob Huggins’ team needs to get.
Auburn, Saturday’s foe in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, is fine in the win column, with 16 on its ledger. There are a few questions about its strength of schedule to date, which at No. 88 is the fourth-worst among teams in the Top 30 of the NET rankings. The Tigers are 2-2 against Quad 1 teams this year (compare that to WVU’s 4-8), and while their slate isn’t horrendous, it’s not a Big 12-type death march either.
Still, Auburn has good wins on its resume, most notably against Arkansas, and had recently run off five straight SEC wins before losing to Texas A&M on Wednesday. Its No. 15 ranking might be a bit high, but this isn’t going to be an easy task for the Mountaineers.
Guard Wendell Green (5-foot-11, 175 pounds) and forward Johni Broome (6-10, 235) give the Tigers a solid 1-2 combination inside and out. Green averages 13.9 points per game but achieves that on volume shooting, making just 38% of his 202 attempts this year. He gets to the line, though, and takes advantage of those opportunities, making 99 of 119 to date.
Broome is much more efficient from the floor, hitting 51% of his attempts, but he’s only 35 of 65 from the line. Without question, the scouting report will include admonitions to refrain from fouling Green while putting Broome there if necessary. Broome also clears 8.5 rebounds per contest and has six double-doubles this season.
Overall, shooting is a big key for the Tigers, who are 341st nationally in 3-point percentage, 233rd in effective field goal percentage and 250th in free-throw percentage. If they can top those numbers, they have a very good chance of starting off the Challenge with a win for the SEC. They have not been great at securing the ball or handling pressure, so look for WVU to trap in the halfcourt and try to force some turnovers and create offensive disruption.
West Virginia is familiar with Broome after facing him in 2021 while he was playing for Morehead State. Broome had 10 points, nine rebounds and three blocks for the Eagles in their 84-67 loss to the Mountaineers in the NCAA tournament in Indianapolis.
Broome had seven blocks against Texas A&M in AU’s most recent game to push him to a total of 51 on the season and powers a Tiger defense that has rejected 10 or more shots five times this year. They’re averaging 6.1 per game, which puts them third nationally.
The Mountaineers are 1-5 on Saturday this season, by far their worst day of the week on which to play a game this year. It’s the only day on which it has a losing record.
—Auburn continues to uphold its defensive reputation. The Tigers are allowing foes an effective shooting percentage of just 43.1% and are yielding just 0.895 points per possession.
—West Virginia is 161-40 in non-conference regular-season games under Bob Huggins, including a 94-8 mark at home.
—Auburn lists 18 players on its roster, and 16 of those have appeared in at least two games this season. That crowded locker room created such a log jam that its official team photo didn’t include coaches or other staffers.
—WVU is 10-2 in non-conference games this year.
—A win over Auburn would push its win total to 11, exceeded only by the 12 out-of-league regular season wins it recorded in 2006-07, 2014-15, 2016-17 and 2019-20. The Mountaineers have won 11 regular season non-conference games in six other seasons since 1990.
—This is the final year of the SEC/Big 12 Challengeas the SEC is ducking out of playing what has been the best conference in the country, by far, over the past few years. There’s probably some embarrassment, too, over the back door raid the SEC perpetrated on the Big 12, and by ending the challenge, SEC schools don’t have to answer questions about it.
—Big 12 teams are 48-41 in the history of the Challenge, but WVU is just 2-7 in the event, with wins over Missouri and Texas A&M.
West Virginia guard Seth Wilson details the process of staying ready in order to provide scoring punch when he checks into a game.
West Virginia mens basketball head coach Bob Huggins discusses his annual fundraiser ahead of the Mountaineers' home game against Auburn
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