West Virginia Shooting Slump
Sean Taylor
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The Mountaineers fired off 15 wins and have followed it up with losing four of five. What has caused the skid? The West Virginia shooting slump is certainly played a role.
So who is feeling the effects of the shooting slump the most? Well, senior guard Daxter Miles is in a season long slump when you compare his performance to previous seasons. He is shooting just 25% from deep during the season. In his first three seasons as a Mountaineer he was never below 30%. The past five games it has became even worse.
Bob Huggins has taken notice of the season-long slump by Miles and made a reference to possible lineup changes in the most recent post-game interview.
Additional to that, a report from Fansided claims that the Mountaineers may be without Daxter Miles for the Iowa State game tonight.
#WVUbasketball: Daxter Miles may miss ISU game https://t.co/sD7pOE1mZy via @hail_wv pic.twitter.com/jKwxQvz2qn
— FanSided College (@FanSidedU) January 31, 2018
Esa Ahmad had a decent start offensively when returning from his suspension, but the last two games Ahmad has gone 0-for-12 from three-point range.
Jon Rothstein made a note of the poor shooting on Twitter:
Daxter Miles is 4-26 from three-point range in West Virginia’s last five games and Esa Ahmad is 0-12 from the field in his last two. The epitome of brutality.
— Jon Rothstein (@JonRothstein) January 30, 2018
During the TCU game the Mountaineers were shooting as low as 29% deep into the second half. Luckily a hot streak brought the Mountaineers to 33.3% to finish the game including 26% from three-point range. Also struggling during the TCU loss was senior star Jevon Carter who was 0-for-6 from deep during the loss.
Against Kentucky on Saturday the Mountaineers shot 41.7% from three-point range. Despite this the Mountaineers blew a 17-point lead in the second half and still rolled up another loss on their home court.
Wednesday night the Mountaineers have a chance to get back on track. Iowa State is on a cold streak of their own, losing seven of their last nine games. If that’s not enough, the Cyclones will be without their starting point guard. The game is set to tip off at 7 p.m. EST in Ames, Iowa and will be televised on ESPNU. It will be interesting to see if Huggins makes any lineup changes after the Mountaineers lost their fourth out of five after blowing a 17-point lead against Kentucky.