MORGANTOWN - Some folks in West Virginia wish to legalize pot.
And then there's WVU's basketball team.
It's been using POT - legally, in fact - for the last few years. And not for medicinal purposes.
I write, of course, of points off turnovers.
They are what separate "Press" Virginia from most teams nationally. And, as we again saw on Saturday, they are what help the Mountaineers pile up victories.
In case you didn't watch WVU's game on Saturday, the hosts, 13-point favorites, showed grit in the first half. There was Esa Ahmad simply snatching the ball away from TCU's Alex Robinson and collecting the foul. Yet West Virginia allowed the Horned Frogs - picked to finish last in the Big 12 preseason poll - to stay within striking distance. At the break, it was 39-28.
A glance at the stats showed both teams had 18 rebounds. WVU was shooting 44 percent from the floor, while TCU was at 42. Not much of a difference, right?
Except for the POT. The Mountaineers smoked the Horned Frogs 18-2 there. They forced 11 turnovers (six travels) and only committed three. It led to 10 more shots.
In the second half, there were WVU defensive breakdowns. (See home run pass from out of bounds for a Kenrich Williams dunk.) There were offensive struggles - while TCU hit 4 of 8 3-pointers to close within 55-54.
Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins made some nice moves, including inserting Sagaba Konate, who has surely earned a start against Baylor. Huggins watched Jevon Carter heat up to contribute a flurry of treys.
Also rolled out, though, were the points off turnovers. Struggling, WVU forced a Jaylen Fisher turnover that led to a fast break. Nate Adrian connected with Carter for a layup and the Mountaineers were up 64-59. Tarik Phillip missed a layup, but stole the ball back and was fouled by Williams. Another point off turnover.
In the end, WVU won 82-70 and held a 28-9 edge in POT.
"We preached it and preached it," said TCU coach Jamie Dixon. "We talked about it and talked about it. We were low in turnovers all year until conference play. We had travels that we didn't have in non-conference play.
"We preached and preached. It was the live-ball turnovers [Saturday] that turned into baskets. That hurt us. And we practiced a lot for it. From Day 1 we worked on our press offense, for this, for Oklahoma State. ... We knew we were going to see it."
West Virginia, though, counts on those points when the team isn't hitting buckets. In the Coliseum, T-shirts are shot into the crowd on made 3-point Mountaineer baskets, and not many were making their way to the seats. At one point, WVU was 3 of 17 from beyond the arc.
Also, the points are crucial when the whistle isn't going the way of the Mountaineers - which can be often. In the second half on Saturday, TCU was called for just five fouls - and one was a technical on Dixon.
"When you press and get a steal, you have to turn it into points," said Carter, who finished with 13 points. "That's what we pride ourselves on."
"Those [POT] are huge," said Ahmad, who finished with 16. "We work a lot on that in practice. Transition. Three-on-twos. Four-on-twos. We want to convert those."
It's a vital stat in WVU's success. In the Mountaineers' loss to Texas Tech? The Red Raiders won there 17-14. In West Virginia's win at Oklahoma State? The Mountaineers had the edge 26-13. In the loss to Temple, the Owls won the stat 25-19. In the win over Virginia, WVU won 18-5.
You get the drift.
"We pay attention to it," said Daxter Miles, who led WVU with 22 points. "Coach always says the way we play, it has to lead to points."
It will have to lead to points against Baylor, which visits WVU on Tuesday at 7 p.m. Heading into Saturday's action, the Bears probably owned the nation's best resume and was receiving No. 1 votes in Top 25 poll balloting.
Baylor is athletic. It is skilled.
WVU's shots need to be falling if the Mountaineers hope to win. And the points off turnovers certainly need to be plentiful.
Contact Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvingle@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @MitchVingle.