Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU's Carey Seeking More Bench Production
November 21, 2017 03:16 PM | Women's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - After listening to Mike Carey talk about his 11th-ranked West Virginia University women's basketball team, you get the impression that he's not too impressed with the way they are playing right now.
He wasn't too impressed following the Mountaineers' recent 54-point victory over Sacramento State, nor was he too impressed with his team's 28-point victory over North Florida Sunday evening.
He brought just two players off the bench in Sunday's 87-59 win.
"I'm not bailing them out," he said. "We were lazy. We didn't get to the ball. That team scored 59 points with just two assists. What does that tell you? It tells you they just drove us to the rim.
"Our weakside (defense) was not there. Our on-ball defense was terrible. You may see that all year because we don't have a bench to go to."
The bench on Sunday consisted of 6-foot freshman forward Destiny Harden playing 15 minutes spelling starters Naomi Davenport and Kristina King, and 5-foot-7 guard Ashley Jones relieving starting point guard Chania Ray.
Katrina Pardee played all 40 minutes while Teana Muldrow logged 38. Carey admits he's playing with fire right now with some of his starters.
"We're just not very deep right now off the bench," he said. "It would be nice if your bench would learn the plays and talk on defense and communicate with the other players that are on the floor at the same time."
Presently, the players wearing street clothes equal the number of players sitting on the bench suited up to play.
The veteran coach is hopeful he's going to get all-Big 12 guard Tynice Martin back at some point, but he didn't sound too optimistic five days ago when he met reporters before practice.
"Right now, the biggest thing is just getting her back," he said. "We'll see. We don't have a timetable and it's still going to be a while. If it goes too long, then we are going to have to look at other situations for her."
One player he's going to get is 6-foot-6-inch Ohio State transfer Theresa Ekhelar, who will become available once the first semester is finished.
Having her on the floor will give him more flexibility with 6-1 senior forward Teana Muldrow, the team's leading scorer averaging 25.7 points per game.
So far, Carey has been able to get away with Muldrow playing the five because the teams he is facing have not been very big. That will obviously change when the Mountaineers get into conference play.
Carey said he is not surprised Muldrow is scoring as much as she is right now, but he is concerned with where she's getting most of her points.
"We've got to look at ways of getting her on the perimeter a little bit more," Carey said. "She's not going to be able to score so easily once we get into conference play.
"We don't have a lot of size," he continued. "Rebounding concerns me. Defending concerns me."
Defense was his top concern on Sunday and it will be his No. 1 concern later this week when the Mountaineers play three games in as many days in the Paradise Jam Island Invitational, moved to Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne, Florida, because of damage to the U.S. Virgin Islands caused by Hurricane Irma.
The Mountaineers will face 3-1 Butler at noon on Thursday, 2-1 Drexel on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and unbeaten Virginia Tech on Saturday at 6 p.m.
All three teams represent an upgrade in talent from what West Virginia has faced so far.
"I'm glad we are going down there because we're liable to get blown out," Carey said. "Maybe that's what we need to understand we're not half as good as we think we are."
And for Carey, that always means stopping the other team first. He said the sooner some of his younger players realize this, the faster they will get onto the floor.
"I tell the freshmen just to come in and play defense," he said. "That will decide how much time you get. And take care of the basketball. We don't need you to score a lot right now, just play defense and take care of the ball.
"We can score. Can we score against great competition? That's yet to be seen. I know some of them can because they've done it in the past," he said.
Carey said he will not be counting the minutes of his starters this weekend down in Florida. He's going to play the players he needs to play to win the games.
"You've got to win the first one," he said. "I'm not going to rest people to save them for the third game. If the starters need to play 38 minutes the first game they will play 38 minutes. They may need to play 40 the third game. It is what it is."
All three games will air on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG. Local coverage on Friday could include a conflict with the WVU men, which are playing in the Advocare Invitational in Orlando.
If that happens, the women's game against Drexel will air locally on WMMN in Fairmont, online via WVUsports.com and the WVU GameDay app. Saturday's Virginia Tech coverage will be the same with the Mountaineer football team playing at Oklahoma.
Thursday's game against Butler will have normal network coverage.
He wasn't too impressed following the Mountaineers' recent 54-point victory over Sacramento State, nor was he too impressed with his team's 28-point victory over North Florida Sunday evening.
He brought just two players off the bench in Sunday's 87-59 win.
"I'm not bailing them out," he said. "We were lazy. We didn't get to the ball. That team scored 59 points with just two assists. What does that tell you? It tells you they just drove us to the rim.
"Our weakside (defense) was not there. Our on-ball defense was terrible. You may see that all year because we don't have a bench to go to."
The bench on Sunday consisted of 6-foot freshman forward Destiny Harden playing 15 minutes spelling starters Naomi Davenport and Kristina King, and 5-foot-7 guard Ashley Jones relieving starting point guard Chania Ray.
Katrina Pardee played all 40 minutes while Teana Muldrow logged 38. Carey admits he's playing with fire right now with some of his starters.
"We're just not very deep right now off the bench," he said. "It would be nice if your bench would learn the plays and talk on defense and communicate with the other players that are on the floor at the same time."
Presently, the players wearing street clothes equal the number of players sitting on the bench suited up to play.
The veteran coach is hopeful he's going to get all-Big 12 guard Tynice Martin back at some point, but he didn't sound too optimistic five days ago when he met reporters before practice.
"Right now, the biggest thing is just getting her back," he said. "We'll see. We don't have a timetable and it's still going to be a while. If it goes too long, then we are going to have to look at other situations for her."
One player he's going to get is 6-foot-6-inch Ohio State transfer Theresa Ekhelar, who will become available once the first semester is finished.
Having her on the floor will give him more flexibility with 6-1 senior forward Teana Muldrow, the team's leading scorer averaging 25.7 points per game.
So far, Carey has been able to get away with Muldrow playing the five because the teams he is facing have not been very big. That will obviously change when the Mountaineers get into conference play.
Carey said he is not surprised Muldrow is scoring as much as she is right now, but he is concerned with where she's getting most of her points.
"We've got to look at ways of getting her on the perimeter a little bit more," Carey said. "She's not going to be able to score so easily once we get into conference play.
"We don't have a lot of size," he continued. "Rebounding concerns me. Defending concerns me."
Defense was his top concern on Sunday and it will be his No. 1 concern later this week when the Mountaineers play three games in as many days in the Paradise Jam Island Invitational, moved to Eastern Florida State College in Melbourne, Florida, because of damage to the U.S. Virgin Islands caused by Hurricane Irma.
The Mountaineers will face 3-1 Butler at noon on Thursday, 2-1 Drexel on Friday at 3:30 p.m. and unbeaten Virginia Tech on Saturday at 6 p.m.
All three teams represent an upgrade in talent from what West Virginia has faced so far.
"I'm glad we are going down there because we're liable to get blown out," Carey said. "Maybe that's what we need to understand we're not half as good as we think we are."
And for Carey, that always means stopping the other team first. He said the sooner some of his younger players realize this, the faster they will get onto the floor.
"I tell the freshmen just to come in and play defense," he said. "That will decide how much time you get. And take care of the basketball. We don't need you to score a lot right now, just play defense and take care of the ball.
"We can score. Can we score against great competition? That's yet to be seen. I know some of them can because they've done it in the past," he said.
Carey said he will not be counting the minutes of his starters this weekend down in Florida. He's going to play the players he needs to play to win the games.
"You've got to win the first one," he said. "I'm not going to rest people to save them for the third game. If the starters need to play 38 minutes the first game they will play 38 minutes. They may need to play 40 the third game. It is what it is."
All three games will air on the Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG. Local coverage on Friday could include a conflict with the WVU men, which are playing in the Advocare Invitational in Orlando.
If that happens, the women's game against Drexel will air locally on WMMN in Fairmont, online via WVUsports.com and the WVU GameDay app. Saturday's Virginia Tech coverage will be the same with the Mountaineer football team playing at Oklahoma.
Thursday's game against Butler will have normal network coverage.
Players Mentioned
G/F
/ Women's Basketball
C
/ Women's Basketball
F/G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
F
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's Basketball
G
/ Women's BasketballNCAA Second Round Press Conference | Kellogg, Harrison, Shaw
Monday, March 23
NCAA First Round Recap
Sunday, March 22
Mark Kellogg, Meme Wheeler & Jordan Harrison | NCAA First Round vs. Miami (OH)
Saturday, March 21
NCAA Tournament Trailer
Friday, March 20
