Growing Up Quickly
January 30, 2009 06:25 PM | General
January 29, 2009
GAME NOTES
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| Kevin Jones |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Kevin Jones is getting a pretty good idea now what to expect with Big East basketball.
West Virginia’s freshman forward has faced seven Big East teams so far this year. Some have gone well. Others not so well.
Jones is coming off an 8-point, six-rebound performance in West Virginia’s 75-52 win over St. John’s Wednesday night at the Coliseum. He had a season-high 12 points on 6 of 7 shooting on the road at Seton Hall earlier this year.
Next up is No. 7 Louisville at Freedom Hall Saturday at noon.
“We know that they are a very good team and they have a lot of weapons,” Jones said. “We’ve got to play with a lot of intensity and come out with a lot of focus. We know the environment is going to be crazy and their fans are going to be excited. We’ve just got to come out and play ball.”
That is a pretty mature analysis of the situation for such a young player. Jones, Truck Bryant and Devin Ebanks have been forced to grow up quickly in a Big East Conference that doesn’t take too kindly to youngsters.
Jones got a taste of that last Sunday when No. 4 Pitt rolled to a 79-67 victory over the Mountaineers at the Coliseum. Jones scored 6 points and grabbed a pair of rebounds in the loss. Three weeks earlier, Jones failed to score for the only time this season in a 61-55 loss to No. 5 Connecticut.
He admits those were tough lessons learned.
“You’ve got to play every second of the game,” he explained. “Anytime anybody can make a run and take the game away from you. We’ve just got to sustain other team’s runs and we’ve just got to pass the ball on offense and play hard on defense.”
One night it’s Connecticut’s Jeff Adrien, the next it’s DaJuan Summers. After that come Sam Young and DeJuan Blair.
“I’m learning that this is a very hard conference to play in,” Jones said. “I’m learning that you’ve got to take it day by day. The coaches and the older guys are helping me out. I know as the season goes on I’ve got to continue to get better and that’s what I’m looking forward to doing.”
Jones understands that West Virginia will be encountering another difficult environment on Saturday.
“It’s a different atmosphere (playing on the road). Everybody is against you on the road,” Jones said. “At home you’ve got the crowd behind you and everything. We’ve got to focus and we know that they are a very good team. We’ve got to come out and get ready for Saturday.”
Despite having three freshmen among its top eight, West Virginia has played well away from the Coliseum this year. Just nine of West Virginia’s 20 games have been played in Morgantown and the Mountaineers also already own a pair of conference road victories at Seton Hall and at Georgetown.
“We focus a lot once we’re on the road because we know it’s going to be a hectic environment,” Jones said. “We pay attention to detail. We listen to the scouting reports and that helps us prepare a lot on the road.”
Jones admits there is plenty he has to improve upon.
“I’m just focusing on rebounding, shooting better and focusing on my foul shots,” he said. “Coach tells us to get better every day so that’s what I’m trying to do and trying to contribute to the team as much as I can.”
Tip off for Saturday’s game against Louisville is noon. The game will be televised on the Big East Television Network as the “Big East Game of the Week” to 31 stations across the country.
Locally, the game will air on WCHS (Charleston), WOAY (Beckley), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTOV (Wheeling), WTAP (Parkersburg), WJAL (Chambersburg, Pa.), WTAE (Pittsburgh) and ESPN Full Court.
The Mountaineers and Cardinals will be meeting for the eighth time overall and the third time since Louisville joined the Big East. Bob Huggins is 14-12 all-time against Louisville and Huggins owns six career victories at Freedom Hall.
