West Virginia
West Virginia wants three running backs ready to roll
West Virginia head coach Rich Rodriguez wants to have three guys ready to roll in his backfield by the time that the season rolls around.
Junior Jahiem White will certainly fill one of those roles as the most productive returning piece on the offensive side of the ball after rushing for 845 yards and 7 touchdowns last season. While White is dealing with a minor knee issue in the spring, the Mountaineers are excited for his potential.
“Jahiem is a proven guy and I think he’s going to have a great year. He has a great skill set for what we do, too,” Rodriguez said. “So excited about him.”
But with CJ Donaldson exiting the program to transfer to Ohio State in the off-season, there are plenty of questions behind White in the backfield pecking order.
The Mountaineers were aggressive in the transfer portal, landing a pair of options in Northern Iowa transfer Tye Edwards and Catawba College transfer LJ Turner.
Edwards spent the past two seasons with the Panthers where he rushed for 1,557 yards and 11 touchdowns. That included this past season where Edwards rushed for 1,022 yards and 6 scores while catching 12 passes for 76 yards and a touchdown.
At 6-foot-2, 237-pounds, Edwards provides a big-back option to fill the role that Donaldson held in the backfield a season ago. Edwards collected a total of 1,233 yards after contact for an average of 4.39 yards after contact per attempt. But he also was elusive, forcing a total of 71 forced missed tackles across 267 carries.
“Have a big guy in Tye Edwards,” Rodriguez said.
Turner is another productive back after rushing for 1,961 rushing yards and 20 total touchdowns in three seasons with the Indians. But his 2024 campaign was his most impressive to date with 1,224 rushing yards and 13 touchdowns earning him Division II all-American honors.
The 5-foot-9, 189-pounder, eclipsed 1,200 yards in just eight total games and had a game where he rushed for 329 yards and 5 touchdowns.
Behind the transfers, the Mountaineers have some in-house options that return such as redshirt freshmen Diore Hubbard and Trae’von Dunbar. The pair only combined for one rushing yard in 2024, but both are now a year older and should be in a better position to compete.
“Hubbard is going to be a good player,” Rodriguez said.
The head coach believes that the Mountaineers have some talent in the room, but the spring is going to go a long way toward determining what the next steps will be at the position.
“I think there’s some talent there, but we might need to bring another guy in here as well,” he said.
Fast break
Why the Buffs lost: West Virginia’s defense locked down the Buffs in the second half, holding them to 21 points and forcing 10 turnovers.
Three stars:
1. West Virginia’s Jordan Harrison: Scored a game-high 18 points and racked up six steals.
2. CU’s Jade Masogayo: Finished with a team-high 13 points while also pulling down five rebounds.
3. West Virginia’s Gia Cooke: Scored six of her 12 points in the fourth quarter and also finished with three rebounds.
Up next: The Buffs host No. 14 TCU on Sunday (1 p.m., ESPN+).
Opportunities to beat nationally ranked opponents don’t come around often.
The Colorado women’s basketball team had one of those opportunities on Wednesday and let it slip away.
No. 20 West Virginia cranked up its defense in the second half and held on for a 61-55 victory against the Buffaloes at the CU Events Center.
“I’m disappointed in that one,” CU head coach JR Payne said. “I thought we certainly had our opportunities. West Virginia’s a really good team. I mean, they’re No. 20 in the country for a reason, but I think when we turn on the film, we’re going to see that there was a lot of really missed opportunities that were us, whether that’s lack of execution or soft passes or not executing or whatever.
“Games like this are super frustrating because it’s such a cool opportunity to have a great team on your home floor as you’re climbing in the rankings in the conference and all of that. So I’m pretty bummed about the outcome, but certainly we played hard. We competed.”
CU never (15-8, 6-5 Big 12) never trailed by more than nine and even that deficit lasted just 14 seconds. The Buffs also never seized the lead in the second half, as they struggled offensively against one of the best defensive teams in the country.
The Buffs trailed 37-34 at the half and scored just 21 points after intermission, going 7-for-28 (25%) from the floor with 10 turnovers in the final two quarters.
“I don’t think they did anything really differently,” CU guard Zyanna Walker said. “I think it was just us, like, just self-inflicted wounds; just us being unorganized and just being lackadaisical with the ball and just not catching the ball where we want to catch it and getting the shots that we want to get.”
Still, the Buffs stayed in the game because their own defense was solid. West Virginia came out hot in the first quarter (8-for-15, 53.3%), but was just 16-for-43 (37.2%) the rest of the way.
Jordan Harrison led the Mountaineers with 18 points, including going 3-for-3 on 3-pointers in the first half. As a team, West Virginia was 7-for-11 beyond the arc in the first half, but 0-for-7 in the second.
“We came in at halftime and we’re like, ‘Yeah, we got to guard the three better,’” Walker said. “So we definitely made that an emphasis in the second half.”
Rebounding also kept the Buffs close. They had a 39-33 advantage, led by Tabitha Betson’s season-high 10, and limited West Virginia to six second-chance points.
“Yeah, it was definitely a huge part of the game,” Betson said. “A big part of how they play is rebounding, offensive rebounding in particular. Us limiting their second-chance opportunities definitely kept us in the game and kept it close.”
Offensively, Jade Masogayo led the Buffs with 13 points, Desiree Wooten had 12 and Logyn Greer 11. All three, and Betson, hit big shots to give the Buffs a chance down the stretch, despite their overall struggles.
Betson hit a layup with 4:51 to play cut the Mountaineers’ lead to 52-50, but CU was just 1-for-8 from the floor the rest of the way, outscored 9-5 down the stretch.
“There’s lots of good things that happened,” Payne sad. “It’s just that everybody is so good (in the Big 12). I always say, you don’t have to play perfect basketball; not by any stretch. But the things that we can control, we have to control. And I think there’s some areas that we didn’t do that and that’s I think what bit us in the butt in the end.”
Notable
CU had a three-game losing streak snapped and lost at home for just the second time this season. … Walker finished with eight points, eight rebounds and two steals. … The two teams combined for 43 points in the first quarter. … Harrison, who leads the Big 12 in steals per game, at 2.9, had six against the Buffs. She has 18 steals in her last three games. … This was CU’s eighth consecutive game decided by nine points or less.
No. 20 West Virginia 61, Colorado 55
WEST VIRGINIA (19-5, 9-3 Big 12)
McCray 2-6 0-1 4, Wheeler 3-9 1-2 7, Cooke 5-11 1-2 12, Shaw 5-13 0-0 11, Harrison 6-10 3-4 18, Woodley 0-1 0-0 0, Thomas 0-0 0-0 0, Makalusky 3-6 0-0 8, Riviere 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 24-58 6-11 61.
COLORADO (15-8, 6-5 Big 12)
Masogayo 2-7 9-9 13, Dutat 1-2 0-0 2, Walker 4-11 0-0 8, McErlane 0-0 0-0 0, Betson 3-9 1-2 7, Wooten 5-15 1-4 12, Greer 4-7 2-2 11, Gooden 0-2 2-2 2, Nworie 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-53 15-19 55.
West Virginia 24 13 10 14 – 61
Colorado 19 15 8 13 – 55
3-point goals – WVU 7-18 (Harrison 3-4, Makalusky 2-3, Shaw 1-6, Cooke 1-4, Woodley 0-1), Colorado 2-9 (Wooten 1-3, Greer 1-2, Betson 0-2, Gooden 0-2). Rebounds – WVU 33 (McCray 10), Colorado 39 (Betson 10). Assists – WVU 7 (Shaw, Harrison 2), Colorado 9 (Wooten 4). Steals – WVU 11 (Harrison 6), Colorado 8 (Wooten 3). Turnovers – WVU 15, Colorado 17. Total fouls – WVU 19, Colorado 14. Fouled out – None. Attendance – 2,097.
West Virginia
WV spends $62M sending foster kids out of state; Morrisey wants $6M to bring them home
Republicans pan Democrats’ demands for ICE reform in DHS funding, with little time to reach deal
Exclusive: Illegal immigrant released under Biden ‘catch and release’ allegedly kills driver in police chase
Feds shift to targeted immigration enforcement in Minneapolis under Homan
Republican ‘wake-up call’: Special election shocker highlights GOP turnout and midterm risks
As Minneapolis fractures, Mobile shows how work, law and God still unite
Florida High School Football Rankings: Top 25 teams – Oct. 21
Cleary's 21 help Le Moyne down Central Connecticut State 69-64 in OT
How old is Bo Nix? What to know about Oregon quarterback ahead of 2024 NFL Draft
99th annual Pony Swim held in Virginia
Indiana Members Credit Union announced as new anchor tenant at Bottleworks District
Republicans pan Democrats’ demands for ICE reform in DHS funding, with little time to reach deal
LIVE: White House press briefing
The Long Goodbye: A California Couple Self-Deports to Mexico
Republican who said Sen Cassidy ‘sucks,’ gets Trump endorsement after ditching Senate bid for House run
Man charged with ‘terrorism’ for bomb at Indigenous protest in Australia
-
Indiana4 days ago13-year-old rider dies following incident at northwest Indiana BMX park
-
Massachusetts5 days agoTV star fisherman, crew all presumed dead after boat sinks off Massachusetts coast
-
Tennessee5 days agoUPDATE: Ohio woman charged in shooting death of West TN deputy
-
Movie Reviews1 week agoVikram Prabhu’s Sirai Telugu Dubbed OTT Movie Review and Rating
-
Indiana3 days ago13-year-old boy dies in BMX accident, officials, Steel Wheels BMX says
-
Politics7 days agoVirginia Democrats seek dozens of new tax hikes, including on dog walking and dry cleaning
-
Austin, TX6 days ago
TEA is on board with almost all of Austin ISD’s turnaround plans
-
Texas5 days agoLive results: Texas state Senate runoff
