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WVU Steps Outside of Big 12 Play on Saturday
January 29, 2016 01:20 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia hits the pause button on Big 12 play to face Florida on Saturday afternoon in this year’s SEC/Big 12 Challenge.
This is the first of eight games between the two conferences over the weekend; last year West Virginia lost to LSU by one in Morgantown and two years ago was defeated by Missouri in Columbia.
Those SEC/Big 12 Challenge games took place during the first week of December, but this year ESPN opted to push the games back to the last week of January to fill a programming hole during the open week of the NFL season ahead of next weekend’s Super Bowl.
The West Virginia-Florida matchup pits two outstanding defensive teams; one, West Virginia, which leads the country by forcing nearly 20 turnovers per game, and the other, Florida, which is second in the SEC in scoring defense by holding its opponents to an average of 64.7 points per game.
Therefore, the first to score 70 might win Saturday’s game.
Both teams are also dealing with personnel issues.
Yesterday, West Virginia announced the indefinite suspension of starting forward Jonathan Holton (9.7 ppg., 7.5 rpg.) for a violation of team rules, while starting small forward Esa Ahmad (4.5 ppg., 2.8 rpg.) was held out of Tuesday night’s victory over Kansas State after suffering a sprained knee during practice.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins indicated on Friday afternoon that Ahmad practiced on Thursday and was “moving well” although he is not sure if the freshman will return to the starting lineup on Saturday.
“I haven’t really thought about that,” he said. “We’re taking a look at different things. We took a look at some different things (Thursday) in practice and we will continue to do that.”
Since scoring 17 points and grabbing 12 rebounds in West Virginia’s 74-63 victory over No. 1 Kansas on January 12, forward Devin Williams has really struggled in his last four games against Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas State.
Frequent foul trouble has limited WVU forward Devin Williams to just 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds over his last four games against Oklahoma, Texas, Texas Tech and Kansas State (All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo).
The 6-foot-9-inch junior is averaging 6.8 points and 5.8 rebounds during that stretch of games, while shooting just 37.5 percent from the floor and 47.3 percent from the free throw line. Some of it is probably a result of being unable to stay on the floor because of frequent foul trouble. Williams played just 15 minutes in the Oklahoma loss and was on the floor for 16 minutes of the Texas Tech win.
With Holton now unavailable, it’s imperative that Williams get back to the way he was playing earlier this season, particularly on the offensive glass.
“In all honesty, Devin hasn’t rebounded it the way he rebounds it. We need Dev to get back to rebounding it at the offensive end,” said Huggins.
Florida, 13-7, could also be without starting forward Justin Leon for Saturday’s game. The 6-foot-8-inch junior took a forearm to the head during Tuesday night’s loss to Vanderbilt and is questionable for Saturday’s game with the Mountaineers. He is only averaging 4.9 points per game, but is the team’s most accurate three-point shooter at 45.5 percent.
Another big item to keep an eye on Saturday is free throw shooting.
West Virginia’s struggles from the line have been well documented. The Mountaineers made just eight of 23 in their seven-point home loss to Texas nine days ago and they missed 13 free throws during Tuesday night’s 15-point victory over Kansas State.
But believe it or not, the 65.1 percent WVU is shooting from the line is actually almost three percentage points higher what Florida is making from the line right now.
The Gators have six players with at least 10 free throw attempts this year shooting below 60 percent, including three under 40 percent.
That’s significant because there are only 10 teams in college basketball fouling more frequently than West Virginia, the Mountaineers averaging 24.1 fouls per game, which means Florida is probably going to get a lot of free throw opportunities on Saturday.
If it’s Dorian Finney Smith (70 percent), KeVaughn Allen (84.2 percent), Devin Robinson (71.7 percent) or Chris Chiozza (76.9 percent) walking up to the line, that could be a big problem for West Virginia.
If it’s those other guys, well, the Mountaineers might be able to dodge a bullet there.
Finney-Smith, a 6-foot-8, 220-pound forward from Portsmouth, Virginia, is leading the Gators with averages of 14.4 points and 8.3 rebounds per game. The senior had his fourth double-double in his last six games against Vanderbilt and is averaging 15.4 points and 9.1 rebounds per game in SEC play.
Allen, a 6-foot-2-inch freshman guard from Little Rock, Arkansas, has also been effective for the Gators this season. Allen scored 16 in the loss to Vanderbilt, including 11 in the game’s final 32 seconds, and is averaging 11.6 points per game for the season.
John Egbunu, a 6-foot-11-inch, 255-pound center from Bauchi, Nigeria, shows averages of 10.6 points and 6.6 rebounds per contest. However, the South Florida transfer mibht be one of the Gator players West Virginia could afford to put on the line because the senior is making just 55.4 percent of his free throw attempts.
The ninth-ranked Mountaineers are the first top-10-ranked, non-conference opponent to play at Florida’s O’Connell Center since No. 4 Ohio State defeated No. 9 Florida on November 16, 2010.
The two schools have met seven times previously, the last occurring on December 20, 2003 at American Airlines Arena in Miami in the Orange Bowl Classic. The 15th-ranked Gators defeated the Mountaineers, 70-57, that day.
Florida holds a 4-3 overall record in the series that dates back to 1963, and all but two of the seven games have been played at neutral sites. The last time West Virginia played in Gainesville was on March 1, 1971, a 72-71 Gator victory.
Saturday’s game will tip off at noon and will be televised nationally on ESPN.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage begins at 11 a.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online through leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn.
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Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
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Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
