Holgorsen-Main-112415.jpg
Campus Connection: WVU Sports Notes Buffet
September 30, 2016 09:48 AM | General
Dana Holgorsen said earlier this week during his Tuesday afternoon news conference that the overall health of his football team is pretty good heading into Saturday’s big game against 2-1 Kansas State.
However, the cumulative effect of some of the injuries that have occurred on the defensive side of the ball is beginning to impact the way defensive coordinator Tony Gibson is calling games right now.
“We’re counting on a lot of guys who haven’t played a lot of football right now, and the things that no one has really talked about are the injuries that we’ve had,” Gibson said. “Obviously, when we lose Dravon (Askew-Henry) that’s a big hit. Then you lose a guy like (senior cornerback Antonio) Crawford in the middle of the game, that’s another big hit.
“Not only did we replace nine starters, there are a lot of guys within who we were counting on that aren’t here. Then, going back to (Xavier) Pegues, Jaleel Fields and guys like that, too, so it’s difficult to get all these guys on the same page and having to keep replacing guys throughout games, practices and all that … it’s tough,” Gibson added.
During last Saturday’s game against BYU in Landover, Maryland, the Cougars generated 521 yards of offense and had two long fourth-quarter scoring drives that were accomplished in just two minutes, but the defense held on its final two possessions by producing interceptions.
Third-down defense has been West Virginia’s calling card the last two and a half years, the Mountaineers owning a streak of 27 straight games of holding their opponent to less than 50 percent conversion rate on third down, but the Cougars ended that by converting 10-of-15 for 66.7 percent.
As strange as it sounds, Gibson believes his third-down defense will improve when it begins playing better on first down.
BYU was consistently gaining five, six and seven yards on first down and that kept its playbook wide open when it got to third and short situations.
“It’s hard to call defenses on third and short,” Gibson said.
Kansas State is converting 46 percent of its third-down attempts so far this year, although the sample size is small.
However, what the Wildcats are able to do on first down against West Virginia’s defense is worth keeping an eye on Saturday.
***
Special teams are going to be another key area to pay attention to. The Mountaineers' kickoff coverage unit was clearly not very good against BYU, prompting Holgorsen to take a much closer look at it this week.
Holgorsen said Tuesday one of the solutions to the problem could be a number of personnel changes.
Another could involve some schematic alterations.
“We’re going to focus on it, and it’s not just kickoff team - it’s kickoff return as well,” he said. “There are some guys out there who weren’t ready to play yet. You always try to put young guys in positions to be able to get some reps on special teams in order to see where they are at. We’ve looked at that, and if it takes putting starters on there, then we will.”
A potential help could be the return of kicker Josh Lambert, who served a three-game suspension for violating team rules. Lambert’s well-rested right leg may be able to get the football deep enough into the end zone to limit Kansas State’s return opportunities.
***
Bob Huggins
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins held his annual preseason media conference on Wednesday afternoon at the basketball practice facility, and as usual, it was a fascinating half-hour of basketball discussion.
Huggs went through his roster, detailed preseason preparations, talked about current trends, got a few digs in on the refs and also took a few questions about recruiting now that he’s off the road.
One question concerned the ratings system for recruits that has become so popular with fans these days. Specifically, he was asked by yours truly if he saw a trend developing of some of the nation’s top players waiting a little longer than usual to commit to schools.
The early signing period is about a month away and the vast majority of the nation’s top-50 players have yet to pick schools.
“Well, you’re assuming that the person doing those rankings has a clue,” Huggins said. “When you get a guy coming in and his sneakers still got the Velcro thing and is still wearing Bike (coaching) shorts you’re looking at him like, ‘And that’s the guy I’m relying on for a ranking?’ How do you do it anyway? How do (they) see everybody? Can’t. There is a guy who is not in the top 200 who the other day in the gym we were there, Georgetown was there, North Carolina was there, three or four Big Ten schools and he’s not in the top 200 according to them. Of course, he is.”
While still at Cincinnati, Huggins recalled once evaluating overlooked Dallas forward Jason Maxiell, now a 10-year NBA veteran who has played for Detroit, Charlotte and Orlando.
“Jason Maxiell wasn’t a top-200 player until one of those guys said to me, ‘Why are you recruiting him?’ I said, ‘Watch him.’ Then all of a sudden he became a top-100 player. Sags (current player Sagaba Konate) wasn’t a top-100 player but wait until you see some of the things he can do. I’ve always felt I should take the guys I like instead of the ones the guy wearing the out-of-date sneakers and pants likes.”
***
Jevon Carter, West Virginia’s leading returning scorer with an average of 9.5 points per game, was recently mentioned as one of “College Basketball’s Top 20 Breakout Players for the 2016-17 Season” by CBS College Sports basketball writer Matt Norlander.
Wrote Norlander of Carter, “Unfamiliar? Get familiar. WVU will pop in and out of the rankings this year because of Carter. He's going to be a do-it-all guy for Bob Huggins this season. I'm predicting 12 points, 3.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 2.0 steals. Absolutely essential guy for the Mountaineers this season. Expect big things.”
***
Mike Carey
Women’s basketball sports information director Russell Luna passed along a couple of interesting tidbits regarding coach Mike Carey’s 2016-17 team.
The Mountaineers are ranked 23rd in Lindy’s Preseason Top 25 poll and will face at least four different opponents ranked in this year’s Lindy’s poll: No. 1 Baylor, No. 8 Texas, No. 14 Oklahoma and No. 24 Auburn, which West Virginia will face in Savannah, Georgia on Thanksgiving Day.
Kansas State and Oklahoma State are two other Big 12 teams expected to be strong this season.
Despite losing WNBA standout Bria Holmes, whose Atlanta Dream team was recently eliminated from the playoffs, West Virginia has an outstanding nucleus of returning players including 6-foot-5 shot blocker Lanay Montgomery, Big 12 Freshman of the Year Tynice Martin, second-leading scorer Teana Muldrow and starting point guard Chania Ray.
West Virginia will also welcome the national junior college player of the year in Gulf Coast State College forward Kristina King, a Mebane, North Carolina, resident.
***
Earlier this week, men’s soccer made a return to the National Soccer Coaches Association of America Top 25 rankings for the first time since November 1, 2011 when the Mountaineers were ranked No. 23.
Coach Marlon LeBlanc’s team checks in at No. 17 this week after some impressive early season performances against Georgetown, Princeton and UNC Greensboro.
West Virginia takes a 6-1-1 record into Saturday’s noon match against Saint Mary’s at Dick Dlesk Soccer Stadium.
Meanwhile, the WVU women rebounded from a recent double-overtime loss against ninth-ranked Georgetown to defeat Richmond, 4-1, on the road last Friday night. The No. 4-ranked Mountaineers are back in action later this evening at Dick Dlesk Stadium against Baylor at 7 p.m., and then take on Oklahoma on Sunday afternoon at 3 p.m. in a match that will be televised nationally on ESPNU.
***
Reed Sunahara
The fantastic job Reed Sunahara and his hard-working coaching staff is doing with this year’s volleyball team is well worth mentioning.
Sunahara’s first season in Morgantown in 2015 saw West Virginia win just five matches, including losing all 16 contests in Big 12 play, while managing to win only one set against TCU in those 16 conference defeats.
In fact, WVU did not win a single set over its remaining 13 matches of the year.
“It was tough,” admitted Sunahara of his first season at WVU. “We want things now and sometimes that doesn’t happen. But last year was last year.”
Indeed, last year was last year. This year has been a completely different story. Eight new faces, including outstanding freshman outside hitter Peyton Caffrey from Chuluota, Florida, has West Virginia off to a 10-6 start that includes a pair of Big 12 victories over Texas Tech and TCU.
The TCU triumph on Wednesday night against former Mountaineer coach Jill Kramer was especially pleasing to the four WVU players remaining from Kramer’s tenure.
A fifth, Mia Swanegan, also has a tie to Kramer.
Swanegan left TCU when Kramer arrived in Fort Worth and ended up going to West Virginia, where she turned out to be the key player in Wednesday night’s 3-2 upset victory. Swanegan was responsible for three of WVU’s five remaining points during the game-clinching set.
As for Caffrey, she currently ranks second in the Big 12 and sixth nationally in scoring while headlining a strong freshman class that includes four players who are seeing significant action during their rookie seasons.
“I think what we were able to do last spring was the turning point,” said Sunahara.”The new kids have added a lot, everyone bought in and things are starting to jell right now. It’s been a lot more enjoyable this year.”
By the way, with Wednesday night’s TCU victory, Sunahara’s Mountaineers have already now doubled their win total of a year ago.
WVU looks to keep things going with another difficult match this evening against Iowa State.
***
On Thursday, West Virginia announced the resumption of the Pitt men’s basketball series with four games to be played during the 2018, 2019, 2020 and 2021 seasons. The Mountaineers and Panthers have played 184 times through the years, many of those games taking place in sold-out venues.
When the dates and tip times are finalized, I’m sure the WVU-Pitt games will once again be circled prominently on the calendars of local college hoops enthusiasts.
No question, the Pitt-Duquesne basketball game is important to the city of Pittsburgh, but the Pitt-West Virginia game has a more far-reaching impact on the sport regionally - and nationally.
I would suspect all four games will involve some sort of national television coverage as well.
***
Former Mountaineer Jedd Gyorko hit home run No. 28 during Thursday night’s comeback victory over the Cincinnati Reds - a 456-foot blast to tie the game in the second inning. Gyorko has now hit a major league-leading 21 home runs since the All-Star break.
***
And finally, 16 years ago I remember watching Pittsburgh Pirates catcher Jason Kendall hit for the cycle against the St. Louis Cardinals with my wife in a game played at Three Rivers Stadium. At the time, I told her it wasn’t every day you got to see a major league player hit for the cycle and it would be an occasion she would always remember.
Well, that was the first thing I recalled when John Jaso became the first Pittsburgh player to hit for the cycle in PNC Park, and the first Pirates batter to do so in the Steel City since that Friday night we saw Kendall do it.
Two night ago when Jaso performed the rare feat, I asked my wife if she recalled watching Kendall’s memorable performance 16 years ago.
She drew a blank.
So much for sharing memorable sports moments with the wife!
Hope you and yours enjoy a memorable sports moment inside Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday afternoon against Kansas State - a very, very, very important game for the Mountaineers that kicks off at 3:30 p.m.
Get to the stadium early because it’s going to be full and remember to Stripe the Stadium.
Have a great weekend!
2026 Mountaineer Invitational Preview
Thursday, April 09
Nate Gabriel | April 8
Thursday, April 09
Coach Rich Rodriguez | April 8
Thursday, April 09
Coach Rod West | April 8
Thursday, April 09
