West Virginia center Jesse Edwards scores in the lane during a game against Baylor. (Photo by Kevin Kinder, BlueGoldNews.com)

MORGANTOWN — Right about now, someone somewhere is wondering what West Virginia has to do to win a basketball game.

Take the Mountaineers’ 94-81 loss to Baylor Saturday night at the Coliseum before 12,558 fans, most of whom left angrier at the officials than they did at the Mountaineers, which was probably a tad out of line because there was one group on the floor worse than the officials — the WVU defense.

See, WVU scored 81 points. That would win most ball games, but they lost by 13.

The Mountaineers shot 53.7% … and lost, by double figures.

If this were a one-shot thing, you could say, OK, things happen. You played the No. 12 team in the nation and they are supposed to be good.

But here’s the deal. The last four games WVU has given up 94, 86, 94 and 81 points.

Don’t guess many of us are math majors but that averages out to 88.8 points a game allowed … and there ain’t no way on earth WVU, a team that is now 8-17 is going to be able to score 90 points regularly — or even occasionally — to win games like that.

And just to make sure they have no chance, WVU doesn’t help itself at all by protecting the ball. It gave up 20 points in this one on 14 turnovers, but that’s only a part of the tale. Over the previous two games, they gave up 34 points that led to 59 points.

The turnovers weren’t necessarily forced turnovers, by the way. Lazy passes put them in deep trouble in a 10-turnover first half, a half that saw 6-10 center Josh Ojianwuna step in and steal sloppy passes and go coast to coast for slam dunks.

Big guys aren’t supposed to do that, but then little guys are supposed to throw passes to him to do it.

Coach Josh Eilert tried to take some of the heat of the guards as he tried to explain what has been going on, saying:

“It’s not all on the guards. Some of it is the timing. Guys are lackadaisical and leave the guards in precarious situations when they turn the heat up on them,” Eilert said, before adding, “some were just careless.”

As always, Eilert tried a couple of defenses, but none really worked except for a late 2-3 zone that helped take a 22-point lead down to 12 with Jesse Edwards at the foul line for two free throws with WVU surging late.

Had he made two, who knows? But he missed two.

Now that’s not to take anything away from Edwards. He scored 21 points. He had nine rebounds. His free throw shooting has been affected by a broken wrist he suffered a couple of months back, costing him five weeks.

But it might have been fun to watch the finish as WVU had things going its way. It held Baylor without a field goal the last 6:21 in the game. RaeQuan Battle had gotten hot as only he could and would give WVU two players over 20 points, finishing with 25 to lead WVU.

In fact, it might have been fun had Edwards been able to stay on the floor, but he played only 24 minutes as he was saddled with three fouls.

“I told Jesse in the locker room we need him on the floor. In practice yesterday, he committed a foul reaching in for the ball 33 feet from the basket,” Eilert said, emphasizing the kind of fouls that Edwards has to avoid. “If he plays 35 minutes instead of 24, it might have been different.”

Despite everything, WVU showed heart, but it was too late.

“We can’t wait to fight. We can’t wait to have that sense of urgency,” Eilert said.

Edwards did all he could to keep them in the game early but eventually Baylor’s ability to pump 3’s from everywhere and from everyone let them take a comfortable lead.

Ja’Kobe Walter made 4 of them as he led the way with 23 points while Jayden Nunn hit 5 while scoring 21 points.

In all, Baylor had six players in double figures.

So, going back to the initial question that people are asking, what’s West Virginia got to do to win a basketball game?

The answer is all of the above plus one more thing, maybe in the new Big 12 find a way not to schedule any more games with Baylor, considering that was the sixth straight time the Bears have beaten WVU, the ninth time in the last 10 games and the 17th time in a series of 25 games.