Huggins: 'We Need to Play Some Games'
November 06, 2015 10:12 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Bob Huggins believes his basketball team has reached the point where it needs to start playing some games.
That opportunity comes tonight when the Mountaineers face Glenville State at the Coliseum for their only public exhibition contest before the games begin to count.
In the other one that didn’t count against Temple last weekend, Huggins said there was a lot his guys were able to get out of it.
“The Temple thing was really good for us, and I think it worked out great,” he said. “They really enjoyed it. We went about halfway for each school. It wasn’t that long of a ride, and they’re good. It was good for us.”
Freshman Esa Ahmad was the high-point man with 21 in just 20 minutes of action, Huggins mentioning that several of his points came in transition. The Mountaineers were most effective in the second half when their full-court pressure began to wear down the Owls.
“We shot 60-some percent in the second half but that was the cumulative effect of pressure,” said Huggins. “They started turning the ball over more. Most teams try and get three-on-twos - we’re trying to get one-on-zeroes. I think we’ve got a chance to score on those, and we got a bunch of them in the second half.”
The two areas Huggins said he was not pleased with last weekend were ball handling and rebounding.
“We just threw it all around. We were so loose with the ball,” he admitted. “Two areas we’ve got to get better at are ball security, and we’re not rebounding the ball the way we rebounded the ball in the past. We’ve got to get back on that.”
Huggins pointed out the reason those two aspects of play must improve is additional possessions are important because of his team’s inability to consistently make shots.
“We have to get more possessions. We rebounded 40 percent of our misses, I believe, a year ago. When you rebound 40 percent of those … just think if we made some shots how good it would be,” he said.
Huggins continued.
“We led the country in assist-to-turnover ratio because we turned people over and at the same time we didn’t turn it over. It’s imperative for us that we get more shots than our opposition does.”
Overall, Huggins is happy with where his team is at right now because he’s once again got a group of players willing to come in each day and work hard.
“We’ve got good guys that like to play. To me that’s what it’s all about,” he said. “I don’t know if I ever want to go through another year where you’ve got guys that you’re begging to play. These guys like to play and they like to compete. It makes it more fun. You’re not constantly trying to trick them or motivate them to get them to do the right thing. We’ve had a couple of practices that weren’t very good, but by and large, we just don’t have practices where you walk out there saying, ‘We didn’t get any better today.’ For the most part we get better and that’s directly related to the enthusiasm that they bring every day.”
Huggins hopes his team can take another step in the right direction tonight against the Pioneers.
Tonight’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be streamed online through WVUsports.com. Tickets are priced at $10 and WVU students can log in to their online student ticket account by clicking the Student Tickets tab on WVUGAME.com. Students will follow the same procedures as football for requesting, claiming and printing their men’s basketball tickets.
There will be no charge for parking in the Coliseum lots for Friday’s game. Fans can also park in the Green Lot on Van Voorhis Road and take a shuttle for $4 roundtrip. The PRT is available for transportation as well.
“We need to play. It’s time. We’re tired of fouling the same guys and being fouled by the same guys. It’s time to foul somebody new,” said Huggins.
Briefly:
* Huggins said playing preseason games against former West Virginia Conference schools is something he wants to continue to do in the future. He believes it’s a win-win for everybody.
“I think it’s something the people in Glenville look forward to. It’s great for us because we get to play against somebody different and the basketball fans get to see people they wouldn’t ordinarily see,” he said.
“Other than Walsh, we’ve played Fairmont twice, Charleston and Shepherd - we’ve tried to play everybody. We’ve got some scheduled for the next two years. I think it’s good for the state.”
* In addition to Ahmad’s 21 points, the Mountaineers got double-digit scoring performances from Tarik Phillip (14) and Devin Williams (12) during last weekend’s closed scrimmage against Temple.
* Guard Juwan Staten’s late-season knee injury last year gave young guards Jevon Carter and Tarik Phillip valuable minutes at the point against top-quality competition. Huggins said Thursday he wants to see improvement from those two guys handling the ball, making the proper decisions with the basketball and running the offense.
* Huggins said the officials they had for last weekend’s scrimmage against Temple will be the same guys calling Big 12 games this year. For the most part, the feedback Huggins got from the refs was that his players did a much better job with their hands by not fouling so frequently.
“We didn’t commit the dumb fouls, which is what I’ve talked to them about from the beginning,” he said. “We’re going to foul. Everybody fouls, but let’s don’t make dumb fouls. Let’s don’t do unnecessary things. We’re going to overrun somebody and bump into someone once in a while, it happens. I don’t think we foul more than anyone else, but I think we have to foul even less now because of the way they say they are going to call the game.”
* Huggs is always good for a one-liner and he delivered another one on Thursday. Earlier this year, he mentioned that where Ahmad ultimately plays on the floor will be determined by who he can guard at the other end. Asked how that’s going so far, Huggins joked, “We’re still trying to find someone he can guard.”
* And finally, Huggins was asked about being left out of the AP preseason poll with all of the players he has returning.
The Mountaineers are beginning the season ranked No. 23 in the coaches’ poll.
“It really doesn’t make much sense,” he said. “You would think logically when you only lose two guys and you win 25 and we were really a free throw away from tying for the league championship in the best league in America, you probably ought to get a couple of votes, I would think.”
However, West Virginia’s difficult schedule should take care of that sooner rather than later.
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