WVU, LSU in SEC/Big 12 Challenge
December 03, 2014 03:41 PM | General
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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – College basketball fans should be in for a treat when No. 16-ranked West Virginia plays host to LSU Thursday night in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge, presented by Sonic.
The Tigers are bringing a 5-2 record into the Coliseum after their impressive 82-60 victory over Massachusetts Tuesday night in Baton Rouge. In that game, former Texas Tech guard Josh Gray scored 25 points on 11-of-15 shooting in LSU’s 22-point win over the five-win Minutemen.
The Tigers also got a combined 28 points and 15 rebounds from their two bigs Jordan Mickey and Jarell Martin.
“I thought (LSU was) extremely impressive (Tuesday night),” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins.
Mickey, a 6-foot-8-inch, 230-pound sophomore forward from Dallas, is averaging a team-best 17.5 points and 10.0 rebounds per game while Martin, a 6-10 sophomore from Baton Rouge, has also given opposing teams lots of problems with averages of 15.9 points and 8.7 boards per game.
“Mickey had a great game and Martin played really well,” said Huggins.
LSU starts another big in 6-foot-10-inch senior John Odo, who doesn’t score much but does give them another rim protector on the floor with Mickey and Martin.
In the backcourt, Gray is now averaging 12.7 points while handing out a team-best 32 assists. Keith Hornsby, a 6-4 junior, has made a team-best 10 3s and is averaging 11.9 points per game.
Tim Quarterman, a 6-6 sophomore guard, has been giving LSU some pop off the bench with averages of 10.6 points and 5.1 rebounds per game.
These six players get the bulk of the playing time, with 6-5 sophomore forward Brian Bridgewater and 6-foot freshman guard Jalyn Patterson also seeing some spot duty.
Four of LSU’s five starters played more than 30 minutes against UMass on Tuesday night and these five – Mickey, Martin, Gray, Hornsby and Quarterman – are averaging at least 31 minutes per game so far this year. Huggins said he is hopeful of using his full-court pressure to get into LSU’s bench on Thursday night.
“If we can get them running up and down we hope that will help,” he said. “The times that UMass pressed them it didn’t bother them at all. It looked to me like they were the ones trying to push the tempo. I thought they put a lot of pressure on the basket.”
LSU did turn the ball over 19 times against UMass and the Minutemen were credited with 12 steals, but Huggins says those numbers are a little misleading.
“The game really got out of hand and when the game gets out of hand like that guys obviously take some chances they normally wouldn’t take,” he said.
West Virginia, meanwhile, has 10 players averaging at least 13 minutes per game and no one - including point guard Juwan Staten who averaged a Big 12-high 37.3 minutes per game last season - is averaging more than 28.4 minutes per game.
Staten leads a balanced WVU attack that ranks 21st in the country in scoring with an average of 15.1 points per game.
Junior forward Jonathan Holton shows averages of 12.9 points and 8.0 rebounds per game, while sophomore forward Devin Williams is averaging 11 points and 8.4 boards per contest.
West Virginia continues to lead the country in steals (97) and offensive rebounding (20.71) and is second in turnover margin (+12.6).
The two areas the Mountaineers have struggled with most so far are defensive rebounding (ranked 322nd out of 345 teams at 20.43) and defensive field goal percentage (309th at 46.9).
Those are two areas Huggins certainly wants to get cleaned up during this next stretch of games, beginning with Thursday night’s contest against the Tigers.
Tipoff is set for 7 p.m. and the game will be televised nationally on ESPN2 (Dave LaMont and Darrin Horn).
There are still good tickets remaining and those can be purchased by calling the Mountaineer Ticket Office toll-free at 1-800 WVU GAME or by logging on to WVUGAME.com.
A large student turnout is expected, however.
“The students have been great,” said Huggins. “If all of the students show up who picked up tickets the it’s going to be a great environment from a student standpoint.”
Pregame Notes: Huggins said before Wednesday’s practice that forward BillyDee Williams has been fully cleared to practice and will be available for Thursday night’s game … Huggins also noted that 6-foot-9 forward Brandon Watkins is still “not up to par right now” … West Virginia has a 145-62 advantage on the offensive glass through the first seven games of the season so far … with Juwan Staten running the point, the Mountaineers have had single-digit turnovers in 25 of their last 40 games … sophomore forward Devin Williams ranks 14th in the country with three three double-double games so far, but he will have his hands full on Thursday night against Martin and Mickey trying to get double-double No. 4 ... West Virginia is ranked 22nd in the country this week in 3-point field goals attempted, a ranking that Huggins seems to be OK with right now, “I’d be more comfortable if we’d make more, but I think we’ve got to shoot it,” says Huggins … Josh Gray played three games against West Virginia during the 2012-13 season when he was at Texas Tech, scoring 24 points and handing out 19 assists in those three games, “He’s got great ball skills and he does a lot of things with the ball,” said Huggins of Gray … several NBA scouts are expected to be in attendance on Thursday night to observe Martin and Mickey for LSU and Staten for WVU … former West Virginia guard Jabarie Hinds was not much of a factor in Tuesday night’s game against LSU, scoring 2 points and making a steal in 13 minutes of action coming off the bench for UMass.
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