Cleveland State Preview
December 17, 2010 03:56 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – As great a coach as Bob Huggins is, he says he is not very good at doing two things at one time. Right now, Huggins says he has been spending more time coaching effort than basketball, and he would like that to change – quickly.
“I can coach effort but I can’t coach basketball,” he said before Friday’s practice. “I can’t coach both at the same time. That’s been our issue. What I’ve tried to explain to them is a year ago I didn’t have to coach effort. I could coach basketball, which is what I’d rather do. That’s more fun.”
West Virginia (7-2) had a very difficult time at Duquesne last Sunday night, falling behind by double digits in the first half and needing a strong second half from its bench to pull out a 64-61 victory. Huggins said he wants to see his players match other teams’ enthusiasm at the beginning of games.
“We can’t go out and get smacked in the face with emotion,” he said. “The emotion is pretty good to start the game but it doesn’t carry on throughout the whole game. If you go out and meet their emotion to start with, and you’re used to it and they‘re not used to it, then it’s an advantage for you.”
Huggins believes it all starts with someone assuming leadership. His great Cincinnati teams always had a player ready to grab the baton when it was passed.
“I think with this team is we haven’t really had anybody step forward,” he explained. “I was thinking last night … we go to the Final Four in ’92, the Elite Eight in ’93 and ’94 and then I had a whole bunch of freshmen and we struggled. We made the NCAA tournament but we lost in the first round.
“Then you have guys step up. For instance, we lose Danny Fortson and everybody is like, ‘Now we can get them.’ Well we always had someone that would rise to the occasion and we haven’t had anybody rise to the occasion,” Huggins said.
What Huggins is still trying to impress upon is players is that becoming a dependable player doesn’t happen overnight.
“Steve Logan just didn’t wake up one day and all of a sudden was a great player. He worked his tail off. If you saw Kenyon Martin play when he was a sophomore he could not score with the ball, but he worked his tail off,” Huggins explained. “That’s where we’ve got get to. I think we’ve got some guys that can be very capable of stepping up, but you can’t do it when you don’t maintain a consistent work ethic and when you come in some days with bad habits.”
One thing is for certain, West Virginia is going to need maximum effort and focus on Saturday afternoon against Cleveland State, now 12-0 and off to its start since 1986 when it went 29-4 and advanced to the NCAA tournament “Sweet 16.”
All five Viking starters were involved in last year’s game against West Virginia when Da’Sean Butler drove the length of the court to win the game on a buzzer-beater, 80-78.
Senior guard Norris Cole (21.3 ppg.) and junior guards Trevon Harmon (14.2) and Jeremy Montgomery (11.7) are averaging a combined 47.2 points per game.
“Norris Cole is really good,” said Huggins. “He would be a very, very good player in our league.”
Huggins is also impressed with center Aaron Pogue, a 6-foot-9, 265-pounder, who scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds last year against West Virginia.
“They’re going to throw the ball to Aaron,” said Huggins. “If Aaron doesn’t shoot 48 percent from the foul line he’s averaging 11 or 12 a game (instead of 7.2) on a team that’s very balanced. That’s pretty good.”
Huggins expects a variety of defenses from Cleveland State coach Gary Waters on Saturday.
“Gary always does a good job of changing defenses,” he said. “They try and keep you off balance by changing defenses. They’ll man-to-man press you a little bit, they’ll diamond press you three-quarters, and they’ll run kind of a zone with chasers. They play a lot of things.”
Last Sunday at Duquesne, West Virginia used a starting lineup consisting of Kevin Jones, Cam Thoroughman and John Flowers at forwards with Truck Bryant and Dalton Pepper in the backcourt. Huggins isn’t sure what he’s going to do on Saturday.
“We’ve got one more practice to figure that out,” he said.
Casey Mitchell is averaging 17.8 points per game but has scored just 8 points in West Virginia’s last two games against Robert Morris and Duquesne. Jones is averaging 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while Bryant is averaging 12.3 points per game. Flowers has been one of West Virginia’s most consistent players through the first nine games of the season, averaging 9.3 points and 6.8 rebounds while blocking a team-high 23 shots.
“We’ve got to do the right thing and if we do the right thing we’re going to be fine. Play the game the right way,” said Huggins. “You keep trying to work with them; you keep telling them and showing them. We don’t pass the ball and we’ve got to pass the ball.”
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big East Network and will air on SNY (New York), MASN (Washington/Baltimore), WJAL (Hagerstown), WPCW (Pittsburgh), SNY-CT (Hartford), KCWX (San Antonio), Cox (New Orleans and Providence), WCHS (Charleston), WOAY (Beckley), WTOV (Wheeling/Steubenville), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTAP-DT3 (Parkersburg), ESPN Full Court and ESPN3.com.
“I can coach effort but I can’t coach basketball,” he said before Friday’s practice. “I can’t coach both at the same time. That’s been our issue. What I’ve tried to explain to them is a year ago I didn’t have to coach effort. I could coach basketball, which is what I’d rather do. That’s more fun.”
West Virginia (7-2) had a very difficult time at Duquesne last Sunday night, falling behind by double digits in the first half and needing a strong second half from its bench to pull out a 64-61 victory. Huggins said he wants to see his players match other teams’ enthusiasm at the beginning of games.
“We can’t go out and get smacked in the face with emotion,” he said. “The emotion is pretty good to start the game but it doesn’t carry on throughout the whole game. If you go out and meet their emotion to start with, and you’re used to it and they‘re not used to it, then it’s an advantage for you.”
Huggins believes it all starts with someone assuming leadership. His great Cincinnati teams always had a player ready to grab the baton when it was passed.
“I think with this team is we haven’t really had anybody step forward,” he explained. “I was thinking last night … we go to the Final Four in ’92, the Elite Eight in ’93 and ’94 and then I had a whole bunch of freshmen and we struggled. We made the NCAA tournament but we lost in the first round.
“Then you have guys step up. For instance, we lose Danny Fortson and everybody is like, ‘Now we can get them.’ Well we always had someone that would rise to the occasion and we haven’t had anybody rise to the occasion,” Huggins said.
What Huggins is still trying to impress upon is players is that becoming a dependable player doesn’t happen overnight.
“Steve Logan just didn’t wake up one day and all of a sudden was a great player. He worked his tail off. If you saw Kenyon Martin play when he was a sophomore he could not score with the ball, but he worked his tail off,” Huggins explained. “That’s where we’ve got get to. I think we’ve got some guys that can be very capable of stepping up, but you can’t do it when you don’t maintain a consistent work ethic and when you come in some days with bad habits.”
One thing is for certain, West Virginia is going to need maximum effort and focus on Saturday afternoon against Cleveland State, now 12-0 and off to its start since 1986 when it went 29-4 and advanced to the NCAA tournament “Sweet 16.”
All five Viking starters were involved in last year’s game against West Virginia when Da’Sean Butler drove the length of the court to win the game on a buzzer-beater, 80-78.
Senior guard Norris Cole (21.3 ppg.) and junior guards Trevon Harmon (14.2) and Jeremy Montgomery (11.7) are averaging a combined 47.2 points per game.
“Norris Cole is really good,” said Huggins. “He would be a very, very good player in our league.”
Huggins is also impressed with center Aaron Pogue, a 6-foot-9, 265-pounder, who scored 11 points and grabbed five rebounds last year against West Virginia.
“They’re going to throw the ball to Aaron,” said Huggins. “If Aaron doesn’t shoot 48 percent from the foul line he’s averaging 11 or 12 a game (instead of 7.2) on a team that’s very balanced. That’s pretty good.”
Huggins expects a variety of defenses from Cleveland State coach Gary Waters on Saturday.
“Gary always does a good job of changing defenses,” he said. “They try and keep you off balance by changing defenses. They’ll man-to-man press you a little bit, they’ll diamond press you three-quarters, and they’ll run kind of a zone with chasers. They play a lot of things.”
Last Sunday at Duquesne, West Virginia used a starting lineup consisting of Kevin Jones, Cam Thoroughman and John Flowers at forwards with Truck Bryant and Dalton Pepper in the backcourt. Huggins isn’t sure what he’s going to do on Saturday.
“We’ve got one more practice to figure that out,” he said.
Casey Mitchell is averaging 17.8 points per game but has scored just 8 points in West Virginia’s last two games against Robert Morris and Duquesne. Jones is averaging 12.6 points and 6.1 rebounds per game while Bryant is averaging 12.3 points per game. Flowers has been one of West Virginia’s most consistent players through the first nine games of the season, averaging 9.3 points and 6.8 rebounds while blocking a team-high 23 shots.
“We’ve got to do the right thing and if we do the right thing we’re going to be fine. Play the game the right way,” said Huggins. “You keep trying to work with them; you keep telling them and showing them. We don’t pass the ball and we’ve got to pass the ball.”
Tipoff is set for 2 p.m. The game will be televised on the Big East Network and will air on SNY (New York), MASN (Washington/Baltimore), WJAL (Hagerstown), WPCW (Pittsburgh), SNY-CT (Hartford), KCWX (San Antonio), Cox (New Orleans and Providence), WCHS (Charleston), WOAY (Beckley), WTOV (Wheeling/Steubenville), WVFX (Clarksburg), WTAP-DT3 (Parkersburg), ESPN Full Court and ESPN3.com.
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