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This Week in the Big 12: West Virginia’s Tynice Martin is back in a big way

By Hayes Gardner

COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 19: Maryland Terrapins center Brionna Jones (42) blocks a run by West Virginia Mountaineers guard Tynice Martin (5) during a Div. 1 NCAA Women's basketball 2nd. round game between Maryland and West Virginia on March 19, 2017, at Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland. Maryland defeated West Virginia 83-56. (Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images)
COLLEGE PARK, MD - MARCH 19: Maryland Terrapins center Brionna Jones (42) blocks a run by West Virginia Mountaineers guard Tynice Martin (5) during a Div. 1 NCAA Women's basketball 2nd. round game between Maryland and West Virginia on March 19, 2017, at Xfinity Center in College Park, Maryland. Maryland defeated West Virginia 83-56. (Photo by Tony Quinn/Icon Sportswire via Getty Images) /
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It’s safe to say that Tynice Martin is back.

After redshirting the 2017-18 season with an injury, the West Virginia junior has returned to the floor with guns blazing. Through seven games, she’s leading the Big 12 in scoring, 3-point percentage, and steals.

On Saturday, she led the Mountaineers to a convincing 77-43 win at Pittsburgh, scoring 26 points (6-of-8 from 3-point range) and adding seven rebounds, two assists and two steals.

So much for rust.

The Big 12 Freshman of the Year in 2015-16 emerged as one of the most explosive guards not only in the Big 12, but in the country, during her sophomore campaign in which she averaged 18.6 points per game and led WVU to a Big 12 tournament title. Her accolades from that season read like a laundry list:  AP All-American Honorable Mention, Unanimous All-Big 12 First Team, Big 12 Championship Most Outstanding Player, and so on.

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But a foot injury suffered over the summer of 2017 during USA National Team U23 tryouts derailed and eventually postponed her junior season.

In 2017, WVU won an NCAA Tournament game, but without Martin in 2018, they missed the tourney. Led by her scoring ability, they’ll hope to get back there this season.

The Mountaineers (5-2) are propelled by Martin. In their losses to No. 16 Iowa and Missouri, she shot just 28.6 percent from the field and 20 percent from deep. In wins, she’s shooting 48.1 percent from the field and a ridiculous 61.3 percent from beyond the arc.

WVU will be largely untested the rest of this month with home contests against Eastern Kentucky (for the second time this season), Morgan State, Towson and Niagara, before opening Big 12 play. That’s when we’ll really get a look at Martin and the Mountaineers.

What’s exciting for WVU and alarming for WVU’s opponents is that Martin appears to be an even more polished 3-point shooter this year.

As a sophomore, she was a lethal off-the-dribble mid-range shooter. This year, she’s stepped her range out a few more feet, and is shooting 21-of-41 from 3-point range. That’s a small sample size, of course, but if she’s able to consistently knock down treys, that spells trouble for defenses.

And Big 12 teams won’t be able to focus too closely on Martin — she has four teammates averaging at least 9.0 points per game, including Naomi Davenport, who notched a triple-double this season.

A West Virginia player has never won Big 12 Player of the Year, and with defending honoree Kalani Brown still at Baylor, it seems unlikely that Martin will be given that award. But as one of the best scorers in the country, there’s nothing wrong with including her in the conversation.

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