Cougars face No. 18 West Virginia to finish east coast swing

DEFENSE IS THE CALLING CARD  ||  Coach Whiting calls defense the silver bullet to her team’s success. In BYU’s nine wins, the Cougars have held opponents to 58.2 points and 35.4 percent from the field. In losses, opponents have shot 42.4 percent from the floor and averaged 66.0 points.  BYU has only allowed an opponent to score over 70 points once this season.

COUGAR ASSIST CLUB  ||  BYU has assisted on 204-of-336 (.607) field goals this year and has had three or more players finish in double-figures in eight of 13 games. In wins this season, BYU averages 16.6 assists in comparison to 13.8 in losses.

RUN-AND-GUN  ||  The Cougars retooled their offensive approach over the summer, instituting a four- and five-out system built on playing with pace and space. The Cougars have attempted 24.1 3-point field goals per game this season, 4.9 more than their 2023-24 average, and making 8.2 per contest. In wins, BYU shoots an efficient 38.2 percent from behind the arc in contrast to 27.4 percent in its four defeats.

SOMETIMES YOU, SOMETIMES ME, ALWAYS US  ||  The Cougars have had six different leading scorers in the last eight games. Over that stretch Delaney Gibb, Emma Calvert and Lauren Davenport have each set career highs over Washington State (26), UTEP (27) and Utah Valley (20), respectively.

WREAKING HAVOC  ||  The West Virginia defense is one of the elite defenses in college basketball, holding opponents to 50.8 points per game for the 4th-lowest mark in the country.

The Mountaineers rank 10th in turnovers forced per game with 25.5 and fourth in steals per game at 14.5. WVU has five players that average 1.9 steals per contest or more with Kyah Watson leading the squad at an even 3.0 per game. 

QUINERLY DOES IT ALL  ||  JJ Quinerly fills up the stat sheet for the Mountaineers. The 5-foot-8 senior guard is West Virginia’s leading scorer at 18.7 points per game on 43.5 percent shooting while also recording 3.4 rebounds, 3.1 assists and 2.7 steals per game.

In WVU’s last outing against UCF, the senior scored a season-high 31 points on 11-of-19 shooting and three rebounds, three assists and three steals. 

DEFENDING THE THREE  ||  BYU shoots the 5th-most threes in the Big 12 at 24.1 per game, making 8.2. West Virginia is the 3rd-best in the conference at defending the three, holding opponents to 26.8 percent shooting from downtown and giving up just 4.5 made threes per game. 

SCORING IN BUNCHES  ||  The Mountaineers have the 21st-ranked scoring offense in the land at 82.5 points per game and boast the 8th-highest scoring margin, winning by an average of 31.7 points over their first 13 games. BYU has only allowed over 70 points to an opponent once this season in its last outing against the Cincinnati Bearcats who went 27-for-37 from the charity stripe in the game.