BUFFALO, N.Y. - The 10-seed Missouri basketball team labels itself “The Fastest 40 Minutes in Basketball.” On Sunday, No. 2 West Virginia will do its best to slow the Tigers to play their brand of ball in the second round match-up at the HSBC Arena in Buffalo.

“They do what they have to do defensively and make everybody pick up their pace to play their pace, which is extremely, you know, chaos in a way. It’s chaos,” WVU senior forward Da’Sean Butler said in the team press conference Saturday.

That chaos led to Missouri averaging 84.5 points in their 23 victories this season, but just 62.5 in their 10 losses. If the Mountaineers are successful in slowing the pace of the game and knocking down a few shots of their own in their half court offense, they will likely find themselves moving on to Syracuse.

That is if the Mountaineers can even get past mid-court. The Tigers utilize a press defense that has caused headaches throughout their Big 12 schedule, and forced Clemson into 20 turnovers in their 86-78 first round win. 15 of those turnovers were Missouri steals.

West Virginia has faced a number of good press defenses this season, and for the most part they have fared well. Truck Bryant said Saturday that he looks forward to the challenge of breaking the press that has propelled the Tigers to the top of NCAA in forced turnovers. That statistic alone makes Bryant feel that their experience with teams like Louisville may not compare to what is awaiting the Mountaineers on Sunday.

“We played against Louisville, a pressing team. It’s the same thing,” said Bryant. “I have to take care of the ball, me and Da’Sean and Devin. That’s who is taking care of the ball. We have to try to play a half-court game and try to slow the game down.”

“We have to try to keep the tempo at our tempo and attack their press smart,” said Mountaineers assistant coach Billy Hahn. “If we don’t turn the basketball over tomorrow, if we take care of the basketball, we should be okay.”

What kept Clemson in the game Friday was their advantage on the glass, particularly the 17 offensive boards they were able to pull down. This is obviously a statistical category that a Bob Huggins-coached team focuses on, and the Tigers will not put up much of a fight to keep WVU from cleaning up missed shots.

West Virginia has a distinct size advantage over Missouri, and Wellington Smith may for once not appear as undersized as he typically has in his career. However, he will be going up against forward Keith Ramsey, who led the Tigers with 20 points on 8-of-11 shooting in the win over Clemson. 

Guard Kim English leads the team with 14.1 points per game and the sophomore also had 20 points against Clemson. Fellow guard J.T. Tiller says he is impressed with the caliber of athletes that he has seen from watching film on WVU.

“In the BIG EAST you really have to be really talented,” said Tiller. “Those are some physical players that can shoot from the outside and take it inside. So it’s going to be pretty much a battle of wills tomorrow to see who can overpower the other.”

Da’Sean Butler says a part of Missouri’s success stems from their willingness to try their luck throughout the game, but as much as their style of play can help them, it can also keep their opponent in the game.

“They take so many chances that if we’re down some, they’ll probably bring us back [in the game] with the chances they take,” said Butler. “I was watching the Kansas game and they were taking a lot of chances and Kansas made them pay for it. Then you get to the end of the game and the same chances they took earlier are the same ones they took late and it got them back.”

Missouri’s Zaire Taylor says if his team is going to advance to the Sweet Sixteen in Syracuse, they’ll need to make good on the chances they take.

“At the end of the day, they’re talented and we’re talented. It doesn’t really matter who is more talented. It matters who players better that day, who executes and who lays more out on the line and who plays with more heart. God willing, we’ll be that team.”

The game tips off 30 minutes after the conclusion of the Syracuse-Gonzaga game on CBS. As always, check back with wvillustrated.com for updated stats with Game Center and Play-by-Play and look for the game recap, photos and players interview videos after the game.