Getting Defensive
November 20, 2006 02:56 PM | General
November 20, 2006
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – The man who invented his own twist to the Princeton offense says his West Virginia University basketball team is going to have to hang its hat on defense for the time being.
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| The Floor Burn Club! Sophomore Alex Ruoff gets on the floor to get a steal against Canisius last Saturday.
All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks |
“I think we have a terrific bunch of kids that have sort of bought into our defense and I told them that a couple of weeks ago when we were looking at just how out of sync we were,” Mountaineer coach John Beilein said. “It takes a while to pick up all the reads.”
West Virginia’s defensive combination of 1-3-1 zone and man-to-man have held its first three opponents to 40.7 points per game. Last Saturday’s opponent Canisius probably fared the best against West Virginia scoring 43 points on 32 percent shooting. But the Golden Griffins turned the basketball over 30 times.
“I think our defense is further along than I thought it would be right now because of our quickness,” Beilein said. “We’ve been quicker, longer and bigger than the teams we’ve played. I look at somebody’s roster and they’ll list a kid at 6-6 and he’s really 6-4. Our kids are listed at 6-6 or 6-7 and they’re really 6-6 or 6-7.
“We’re a little bit longer in the man and the zone and that’s what’s been so surprising that they’re picking some of that up,” Beilein said.
Each player that has played this year has recorded at least one steal and freshman Da’Sean Butler leads team with nine. Beilein says diving for loose balls and keeping 50-50 balls alive is something his young team is going to have to continue to do.
“The dunk will be shown one time but the dive on the floor will be shown five times because that’s how we have to play,” Beilein said.
Despite the 23-point win on Saturday, Beilein thought his team left opportunities out on the floor, especially in the fast break.
“We want to run but when we ran we were crazy sometimes,” he said. “When you run you’ve got to run at full speed and back out if you don’t have something. You can’t make a decision not to run until you’ve run because not to decide is to decide.”
Beilein was encouraged by Frank Young’s 6 of 13 shooting performance on Saturday after struggling in his first two games against Mount St. Mary’s and Slippery Rock. The senior had 14 points to go with four rebounds and four assists.
Young, the only returning starter from last year, has boosted his scoring average to 7 points per game and is tied for the team lead in rebounds averaging 5.3 per game.
Beilein says Young has to be careful not to do too much just because he’s one of two seniors on the team.
“I like to use the baseball analogy of guys hitting 40 home runs because he’s got Albert Pujols hitting behind him. Frank had an awful lot of good players around him and his role was very simple," Beilein said. "Now he’s got a little bit more of a role but he can’t get confused on that now. He just needs to play almost the same way he’s played; he’s just playing more minutes.”
West Virginia’s other senior Rob Summers is coming off his best all-around performance in a Mountaineer uniform against Canisius. The 7-foot center had a career-high 9 points on 3 of 3 shooting, grabbed four rebounds and blocked four shots. His development is beginning to stabilize the center spot.
“Rob and I spoke a little bit earlier this week about just what his role is on the team,” Beilein said. “I mentioned the role that great rebounders have on teams, ‘Just go out there and rebound; people will find you in transition. We have a good passing team. Don’t get hung up on comparing yourself to being an outside shooter. Do what you do well.’”
Six-eight sophomore Joe Alexander is finding himself on the floor as well, scoring a season-high 16 points, grabbing six boards and producing a team-high four steals in his last outing. Alexander is tied with Butler for the team lead in scoring with an average of 11.3 points per game. Beilein says Alexander has even scratched the surface of the type of player he’s capable of being.
“Fasten your seatbelts because he’s very, very exciting,” said Beilein, also noting it could go either way. “You might say that was a simple play that he made very hard or it could be how did he do that? You will go back and forth like we have for two years now.
“But his play is getting a little more solid and less where it’s sensational almost in a negative way where he’s trying to do too much. That’s what we’re starting to see,” Beilein said. “Somewhere in between that is where he needs to play.”
Now, West Virginia goes on the road to play in the Old Spice Classic in Orlando, Fla., during Thanksgiving recess. The Mountaineers will face Montana on Thursday night on ESPN2 at 9:30 pm. West Virginia will play either Virginia Tech or Western Michigan on Friday night.
“This is like a Hawaii trip except we don’t have to be in a plane for two days to get there,” Beilein said. “It’s good for us to go there and find out who we are. It’s not like when we come back we’ve got time to retool (with games away from the Coliseum against N.C. State and Duquesne).
“We’ve got five games that will show us where we are – not who we are.”
