Robert Morris Preview
December 06, 2010 08:31 PM | General
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Bob Huggins wants to see more passing and fewer jump shots when West Virginia takes on Robert Morris in a non-conference game at the WVU Coliseum Tuesday night.
Huggins thought his team took too many jump shots during last Saturday’s 79-76 loss at Miami. At one point midway through the second half the Mountaineers appeared to be cruising along with a 13-point lead.
“Our offensive execution has not been very good,” Huggins said Monday. “We’re not getting to the foul line enough and we’re shooting too many jump shots - it’s really pretty simple.”
West Virginia’s top two scorers Casey Mitchell (21.7 ppg.) and Kevin Jones (13.1 ppg.) combined to shoot 10-for-32 against the Hurricanes, Mitchell because he had an off night and Jones because he took too many shots away from the basket, according to Huggins.
Huggins wants Jones attacking the glass and getting more second-chance opportunities just as he did last year as a sophomore.
“We’re just going to have to keep working on it,” Huggins said of his team’s difficulties scoring close to the basket. “I think potentially we can score in there.”
After seven games, Huggins still sees a basketball team trying to figure each other out.
“We passed it a whole lot better last year at this point but they knew what to look for,” he said. “We had guys that had been in those situations a lot. I think sometimes we have guys playing not to make mistakes instead of playing to win the game.”
West Virginia is facing a Robert Morris team bolstered by the return of one of its best players, 5-foot-9 guard Karon Abraham, who missed four games because of a disciplinary suspension. Robinson is averaging 14 points per game.
“They used to tell me cut the head off and the monster dies,” Huggins explained. “You can cut his toe off and he’s still going to eat you. I think to a large degree, that’s what happened to them. He’s very important to their team. He’s got experience; he’s got great ball skills and he can make shots.”
Russell Johnson, a 6-foot-6 forward, is averaging a team-best 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Colonials are not a very big team with just two starters standing taller than 6-5 and only two guys available off the bench taller than 6-7. Robert Morris has also played a strong schedule with games against Kent State, Duquesne, Pitt and undefeated Cleveland State early on.
The Colonials are coached by 29-year-old Andrew Toole, in his first season there. Huggins was once in Toole’s shoes when he started his coaching career at Walsh College back in 1980.
“I was in a great situation at Ohio State with a great team coming back and I just didn’t feel like I had much of an impact (sitting) four chairs down,” Huggins recalled. “When you’re four chairs down you tell the guy next to you, who tells the guy next to him, who tells the guy next to him who tells the coach. There is a lot that gets lost in the interpretation.
“I wanted to coach, plus, I was on the road four or five days a week. It served me well recruiting wise because I met a lot of people, but I wanted to coach.”
Huggins believes the most important thing all young coaches must understand is that they have to be themselves.
“I think a lot of young coaches make the mistake of trying to be somebody they’re not,” he said. “You saw that a lot with coach (Bob) Knight. He had all these coaching academies and everybody would leave there and say, ‘By God I’m going to be like coach Knight.’ There’s only one coach Knight. You have to coach to your own personality.”
Huggins says the coaches that try to emulate others often revert back to themselves in the end anyway.
“All of a sudden when you get back to being yourself everybody looks around and says, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ I think you have to be consistent in what you do,” Huggins said. “It’s hard to make them consistent when you’re not consistent.”
Notes … Tip off for Tuesday night’s game is 7 p.m. … the Robert Morris game will be televised on the Big East Network and will air locally on FSN Pittsburgh ... other stations carrying the telecast include MASN (Washington, D.C./Baltimore), Altitude (Denver), Metro (Kansas City), TW-WI (Milwaukee), KCWX (San Antonio), Cox Cable (New Orleans and Providence) … fans who bring a new, unwrapped toy to the game will receive a coupon for free admission to an upcoming women’s game … Matt Hahn, the son of West Virginia assistant coach Billy Hahn, is an assistant coach on the Robert Morris staff … Hahn spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at Vermont … Tuesday’s meeting will be the 21st time these two teams have met with West Virginia owning an 18-2 record; the last meeting was in 2001, a 102-86 Mountaineer victory … nine Big East teams are either ranked or receiving votes in this week’s Top 25 poll, including No. 3-rated Pitt, now 9-0 … the conference is 5-5 so far in non-conference games against Top 25 teams with Louisville, Pitt, UConn and Georgetown each bagging wins against ranked teams … Connecticut guard Kemba Walker continues to lead the country in scoring with an average of 29.1 points per game … the book Roll out the Carpet: 101 seasons of West Virginia University basketball will be on sale in the concourse area of the Coliseum with yours truly available to sign copies until game time.
Huggins thought his team took too many jump shots during last Saturday’s 79-76 loss at Miami. At one point midway through the second half the Mountaineers appeared to be cruising along with a 13-point lead.
“Our offensive execution has not been very good,” Huggins said Monday. “We’re not getting to the foul line enough and we’re shooting too many jump shots - it’s really pretty simple.”
West Virginia’s top two scorers Casey Mitchell (21.7 ppg.) and Kevin Jones (13.1 ppg.) combined to shoot 10-for-32 against the Hurricanes, Mitchell because he had an off night and Jones because he took too many shots away from the basket, according to Huggins.
Huggins wants Jones attacking the glass and getting more second-chance opportunities just as he did last year as a sophomore.
“We’re just going to have to keep working on it,” Huggins said of his team’s difficulties scoring close to the basket. “I think potentially we can score in there.”
After seven games, Huggins still sees a basketball team trying to figure each other out.
“We passed it a whole lot better last year at this point but they knew what to look for,” he said. “We had guys that had been in those situations a lot. I think sometimes we have guys playing not to make mistakes instead of playing to win the game.”
West Virginia is facing a Robert Morris team bolstered by the return of one of its best players, 5-foot-9 guard Karon Abraham, who missed four games because of a disciplinary suspension. Robinson is averaging 14 points per game.
“They used to tell me cut the head off and the monster dies,” Huggins explained. “You can cut his toe off and he’s still going to eat you. I think to a large degree, that’s what happened to them. He’s very important to their team. He’s got experience; he’s got great ball skills and he can make shots.”
Russell Johnson, a 6-foot-6 forward, is averaging a team-best 14.7 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. The Colonials are not a very big team with just two starters standing taller than 6-5 and only two guys available off the bench taller than 6-7. Robert Morris has also played a strong schedule with games against Kent State, Duquesne, Pitt and undefeated Cleveland State early on.
The Colonials are coached by 29-year-old Andrew Toole, in his first season there. Huggins was once in Toole’s shoes when he started his coaching career at Walsh College back in 1980.
“I was in a great situation at Ohio State with a great team coming back and I just didn’t feel like I had much of an impact (sitting) four chairs down,” Huggins recalled. “When you’re four chairs down you tell the guy next to you, who tells the guy next to him, who tells the guy next to him who tells the coach. There is a lot that gets lost in the interpretation.
“I wanted to coach, plus, I was on the road four or five days a week. It served me well recruiting wise because I met a lot of people, but I wanted to coach.”
Huggins believes the most important thing all young coaches must understand is that they have to be themselves.
“I think a lot of young coaches make the mistake of trying to be somebody they’re not,” he said. “You saw that a lot with coach (Bob) Knight. He had all these coaching academies and everybody would leave there and say, ‘By God I’m going to be like coach Knight.’ There’s only one coach Knight. You have to coach to your own personality.”
Huggins says the coaches that try to emulate others often revert back to themselves in the end anyway.
“All of a sudden when you get back to being yourself everybody looks around and says, ‘Who the hell is this guy?’ I think you have to be consistent in what you do,” Huggins said. “It’s hard to make them consistent when you’re not consistent.”
Notes … Tip off for Tuesday night’s game is 7 p.m. … the Robert Morris game will be televised on the Big East Network and will air locally on FSN Pittsburgh ... other stations carrying the telecast include MASN (Washington, D.C./Baltimore), Altitude (Denver), Metro (Kansas City), TW-WI (Milwaukee), KCWX (San Antonio), Cox Cable (New Orleans and Providence) … fans who bring a new, unwrapped toy to the game will receive a coupon for free admission to an upcoming women’s game … Matt Hahn, the son of West Virginia assistant coach Billy Hahn, is an assistant coach on the Robert Morris staff … Hahn spent the previous five seasons as an assistant coach at Vermont … Tuesday’s meeting will be the 21st time these two teams have met with West Virginia owning an 18-2 record; the last meeting was in 2001, a 102-86 Mountaineer victory … nine Big East teams are either ranked or receiving votes in this week’s Top 25 poll, including No. 3-rated Pitt, now 9-0 … the conference is 5-5 so far in non-conference games against Top 25 teams with Louisville, Pitt, UConn and Georgetown each bagging wins against ranked teams … Connecticut guard Kemba Walker continues to lead the country in scoring with an average of 29.1 points per game … the book Roll out the Carpet: 101 seasons of West Virginia University basketball will be on sale in the concourse area of the Coliseum with yours truly available to sign copies until game time.
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