Little Bit of Everything
January 14, 2008 03:00 PM | General
January 14, 2008
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – With John Flowers you get a little bit of everything. Take for instance his stat line in West Virginia’s 81-61 victory over Syracuse Sunday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum.
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| John Flowers throws down two against Syracuse on Sunday.
Allison Toffle photo |
His five points scored seems rather pedestrian but when you factor in his three rebounds, one assist, three blocks and two steals, you begin to see a combination of skill and effort that ignites this West Virginia basketball team.
“We talk all the time about coming out and playing hard and not being nervous. I try to bring energy off the bench,” Flowers said. “I try to build the momentum up and get momentum going so we can try to go on a run.”
That’s precisely what the freshman forward did on Sunday. He made the play of the game in the first half, coming from behind and blocking Rick Jackson’s tomahawk stuff attempt. The play got the crowd into the game and West Virginia responded by going on a 19-9 run to build its lead to 30-18.
“I love the crowd. I love it when they get loud and wild,” Flowers said.
The play underscores the fearlessness with which Flowers plays the game.
“I just tried to sprint back and make a hustle play. We talk about no transition or easy buckets. I didn’t care if he was going to try to dunk it,” Flowers said. “I don’t care about being dunked on or anything. I just didn’t want to give up an easy transition bucket so I just went up and got the block.”
The play was not lost on Bob Huggins, who has been watching the Waldorf, Md., native improve every day in practice.
“I think John Flowers made the play that really got the game going in the right direction when he makes the great block from behind,” Huggins said. “It was a big-time hustle play. We get the ball back and it gets the crowd in the game and kind of gets us going. John is getting better and better.”
The always active Flowers also got a stick-back basket just ahead of the halftime buzzer to help the Mountaineers to a 35-20 halftime lead. While he was a big time scorer in high school, averaging 18 points and 13 rebounds per game, he is content right now in helping the team any way he can.
“When I go in I just play as hard as I can. I make a lot of mistakes but I just try to stay focused and play through them,” Flowers said. “I try to block shots and be active in passing lanes. My job is not so much scoring - it is to play defense, rebound, clean up the boards and do all the garbage work.”
One man’s trash is another man’s treasure. While you may not get a lot of scoring out of John Flowers at this stage of his career, what you will get is a little bit of everything.
