Five Moments From Sunday
March 23, 2015 11:50 AM | General
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| Forward Devin Williams was 10 of 18 from the floor, scored 33 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in West Virginia's NCAA Tournament wins over Buffalo and Maryland last weekend. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
5. The Reemergence of Jonathan Holton
Jonathan Holton’s stat line against Buffalo was not impressive – 0 for 3 from the floor, zero points, one rebound and five fouls in only nine minutes of action.
But two days later on Sunday against Maryland, Holton was once again active around the basket, getting a couple of first-half put-back goals. He made a 3 from the corner and also hit one of two from the line late in the game to finish with 12 points.
Holton would have had 14 but he forgot to take a dribble before throwing down a one-handed monster dunk in transition that was waved off for traveling.
4. Daxter vs. Dez
We’ve seen this play out several times before on the gridiron … the spurned Maryland recruit who gets his revenge while playing for West Virginia. We saw it with Stevie Slaton and we saw it with Baltimore’s Tavon Austin and Terence Garvin. Now you can add Daxter Miles Jr. to the list.
And guess where Miles is from?
Dez Wells was a big matchup concern for the Mountaineers because of his size and ability to put the ball on the floor (think Baylor's Royce O’Neale and Taurean Prince).
Early in the game, Miles and Wells got tangled up and the two had words, forcing assistant coaches from both staffs to come onto the floor to retrieve their players.
Well, West Virginia's freshman answered the challenge by scoring 12 points, grabbing two rebounds, handing out two assists, hitting both of his free throw attempts (he’s just a 53.3 percent free throw shooter) and making a couple of key transition baskets to help West Virginia build its second-half lead.
As for Dez?
His final stat line was 3 of 8 shooting for 9 points with eight turnovers. Keep in mind Wells was averaging 15.4 points per game entering Sunday night’s game.
3. Jevon Carter Hits His Only 3 of the Game
In the second half West Virginia’s defense was controlling the game, but the Mountaineers were unable to distance themselves from the Terps.
Maryland went six minutes without a field goal, but West Virginia was only able to build its lead to nine points with 7:15 remaining. Then, when Evan Smotrycz made a 3 from the top of the key with 4:51 left to reduce West Virginia’s lead to five, the Mountaineers needed somebody to step up and make a shot.
Freshman Jevon Carter delivered 38 seconds later with his only basket of the game – a 3 from the wing.
Carter was only 1 for 7 from the floor for the game but did contribute six steals.
2. Tarik Phillip’s Hard Work in the Paint
Six-three guard Tarik Phillip usually does most of his damage from the perimeter, or on the defensive end of the floor, but Sunday he came up with two important baskets in the paint early in the second half to jumpstart the Mountaineers.
His first came with 11:50 remaining to put the Mountaineers ahead 47-44, and then a minute later, he outhustled the Terrapin bigs to rebound his own missed shot and was able to power the ball back into the basket to give West Virginia a five-point lead.
If you recall, two nights earlier it was Phillip’s big 3 with 28 seconds left that put the Buffalo game on ice for West Virginia.
1. The Emergence of Devin Williams
Somebody must be showing Devin Williams some Danny Fortson tape, because the Goggles Guy is starting to become a major force around the rim.
At one point late in the regular season, Williams was shooting just 42.7 percent from the floor, which is okay if you are a shooting guard, but not from someone who is expected to score around the basket.
Then, Williams went 4 of 6 from the floor with 22 points in the regular-season finale against Oklahoma State. He followed that up with a 7-for-9 shooting performance with 18 points against Baylor in the Big 12 Tournament.
In his two NCAA Tournament games in Columbus, Williams made 10 of 18 from the floor and scored a combined 33 points in victories over Buffalo and Maryland.
In addition, Williams pulled down a team-best 19 rebounds.
There were several occasions in both games when Williams was able to score close to the goal with guys hanging all over him. Maryland had four different players 6-foot-9 or taller on Williams but none of them was strong enough, or tough enough, to stop him.
Williams is also becoming one of West Virginia’s best free throw shooters. He made all six of his free throw attempts in the Maryland game and was 7 for 9 from the line against Buffalo.
For the season, Williams has now boosted his scoring (11.6 ppg.) and rebounding (8.2 rpg.) averages, has increased his shooting accuracy to 45.3 percent and is now shooting 70.5 percent from the free throw line.
I had somebody who has been around the game for a long, long time come up to me at halftime on Sunday and remark, 'Man, I would love to have that Devin Williams on my team. He is a beast on the glass.'
To me, the development of Devin Williams for the remainder of this year and into next season with more time around Bob Huggins is the most encouraging aspect of West Virginia basketball right now.
Huggins has had a great track record of producing dominant bigs through the years and Williams is inching closer toward reaching that level.
He’s not close to being there yet, but he’s making progress.
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