Thursday, November 23
Lake Buena Vista, Fla.
8:30 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Marist
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
WVU Preps For AdvoCare Invitational
November 22, 2017 11:11 AM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - West Virginia is in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, for a Thanksgiving filling of college basketball. The 23rd-ranked Mountaineers will face Marist Thanksgiving night at 8:30 p.m. in the opening game of the AdvoCare Invitational, formerly called the Old Spice Classic.
West Virginia will face either Nebraska or Central Florida on Friday and will play one more game on Sunday.
Teams on the other side of the bracket include Long Beach State, which WVU defeated Monday night in Morgantown, Missouri, Oregon State and St. John's.
"I wanted to go down there 4-0," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Monday night. "But we've got a chance to win a championship and that makes it kind of fun. One of our veteran guys said it's kind of like going to the NCAA Tournament because you're playing multiple games on a trip and you've got to get ready in a hotel, watch the film and have our walk-through sometimes in the hotel."
Huggins has been doing a lot of teaching with his young basketball team, and his pupils are beginning to absorb some of their lessons.
West Virginia (3-1) is coming off easily its best overall performance of the season with Monday night's 91-62 victory over Long Beach State, which Huggins believes is capable of winning the Big West this year.
The Mountaineers got 22 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Lamont West and a career-high 20 points from sophomore center Sagaba Konate on 8-of-10 shooting. Konate grabbed seven rebounds and made four spectacular blocks in an outstanding all-around performance.
Both were virtually non-existent in West Virginia's 23-point loss to 16th-ranked Texas A&M to open the season 12 days ago in Germany.
"We're getting better," Huggins said. "It's so much repetition. We've got to keep repping the same thing over and over."
Huggins said the Texas A&M loss was partly a result of his team's inexperience. Several times West Virginia was beaten down the floor by the Aggies for easy transition baskets because he simply didn't have enough time to work on some of those things during the preseason.
"When I said we were going to go to Germany, I thought we would have Esa (Ahmad) and Elijah (Macon)," Huggins said. "And we don't have Esa and Elijah. There goes all of that experience and now we've got a bunch of guys that have never played before. I didn't spend near enough time on transition defense and I didn't spend near enough time in the full-court aspect of it. But I didn't think I could. We tried to teach as much as we could teach and still do it the right way."
Now, with some more time to go over some of those areas in greater detail, the team is beginning to jell a little bit.
Sophomore guard Chase Harler made four 3s in the first half and scored a career-high 14 against Long Beach State, two days after Daxter Miles Jr. scored a career-high 32 against Morgan State.
Senior guard Jevon Carter has been steady throughout, scoring 13 against Texas A&M, 20 against American, 16 against Morgan State and 13 on Monday night against Long Beach State.
Carter is averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 steals per game.
Overall, Huggins said his guys are starting to slow down offensively and play more efficiently.
"That's the battle for all of us," he said. "When we play the way we play it takes a while to get used to playing so hard on defense, and at times playing a little reckless on defense, to slowing down which is why you are seeing us turn it over. 'What the heck is that guy doing?' He's playing too fast.
"It's hard to do and the shot clock has made it harder. You used to do that and then come down and run whatever. You could run flex or some shuffle and just say make six or seven passes (to slow down)."
West Virginia's Thanksgiving night game against Marist will be televised on ESPNNEWS. Friday's game will tip at either 5 and 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on either ESPN2 or ESPN3, while Sunday's game will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG will provide regular network coverage throughout the tournament on affiliates state wide, online via WVUsports.com and through the popular mobile app TuneIn.
West Virginia will face either Nebraska or Central Florida on Friday and will play one more game on Sunday.
Teams on the other side of the bracket include Long Beach State, which WVU defeated Monday night in Morgantown, Missouri, Oregon State and St. John's.
"I wanted to go down there 4-0," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Monday night. "But we've got a chance to win a championship and that makes it kind of fun. One of our veteran guys said it's kind of like going to the NCAA Tournament because you're playing multiple games on a trip and you've got to get ready in a hotel, watch the film and have our walk-through sometimes in the hotel."
Huggins has been doing a lot of teaching with his young basketball team, and his pupils are beginning to absorb some of their lessons.
West Virginia (3-1) is coming off easily its best overall performance of the season with Monday night's 91-62 victory over Long Beach State, which Huggins believes is capable of winning the Big West this year.
The Mountaineers got 22 points and eight rebounds from sophomore forward Lamont West and a career-high 20 points from sophomore center Sagaba Konate on 8-of-10 shooting. Konate grabbed seven rebounds and made four spectacular blocks in an outstanding all-around performance.
Both were virtually non-existent in West Virginia's 23-point loss to 16th-ranked Texas A&M to open the season 12 days ago in Germany.
"We're getting better," Huggins said. "It's so much repetition. We've got to keep repping the same thing over and over."
Huggins said the Texas A&M loss was partly a result of his team's inexperience. Several times West Virginia was beaten down the floor by the Aggies for easy transition baskets because he simply didn't have enough time to work on some of those things during the preseason.
"When I said we were going to go to Germany, I thought we would have Esa (Ahmad) and Elijah (Macon)," Huggins said. "And we don't have Esa and Elijah. There goes all of that experience and now we've got a bunch of guys that have never played before. I didn't spend near enough time on transition defense and I didn't spend near enough time in the full-court aspect of it. But I didn't think I could. We tried to teach as much as we could teach and still do it the right way."
Now, with some more time to go over some of those areas in greater detail, the team is beginning to jell a little bit.
Sophomore guard Chase Harler made four 3s in the first half and scored a career-high 14 against Long Beach State, two days after Daxter Miles Jr. scored a career-high 32 against Morgan State.
Senior guard Jevon Carter has been steady throughout, scoring 13 against Texas A&M, 20 against American, 16 against Morgan State and 13 on Monday night against Long Beach State.
Carter is averaging 15.5 points, 6.5 assists and 4.5 steals per game.
Overall, Huggins said his guys are starting to slow down offensively and play more efficiently.
"That's the battle for all of us," he said. "When we play the way we play it takes a while to get used to playing so hard on defense, and at times playing a little reckless on defense, to slowing down which is why you are seeing us turn it over. 'What the heck is that guy doing?' He's playing too fast.
"It's hard to do and the shot clock has made it harder. You used to do that and then come down and run whatever. You could run flex or some shuffle and just say make six or seven passes (to slow down)."
West Virginia's Thanksgiving night game against Marist will be televised on ESPNNEWS. Friday's game will tip at either 5 and 7:30 p.m. and will be televised on either ESPN2 or ESPN3, while Sunday's game will air on either ESPN2 or ESPNU.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG will provide regular network coverage throughout the tournament on affiliates state wide, online via WVUsports.com and through the popular mobile app TuneIn.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's BasketballTV Highlights: WVU 69, Lehigh 47
Monday, November 10
Ross Hodge | Lehigh Postgame
Sunday, November 09
Brenen Lorient & Harlan Obioha | Lehigh Postgame
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TV Highlights: WVU 73, Campbell 65
Friday, November 07
