Thursday, November 30
Morgantown, W.Va.
7:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
NJIT
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Carter WVU's Minister of Defense
November 30, 2017 12:38 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Do you remember playing basketball at the park in the summertime back in the day?
It was winner-stay-on and those lazy, sunny days were never better – that is until the dude who played cross-country defense showed up. In my case, that would have been my older brother!
Those wide-open shots you got from the top of the key were gone. Once uncontested drives to the basket became bumpier than driving the speed limit on West Run Road.
The full-court defense dude (my brother!) guarded you past the water fountain all the way to the urinal, a beautiful summer day gone to hell in a handbasket.
Well, multiply that by about a thousand and that's what it's like dribbling the basketball up the court with Jevon Carter standing in front of you.
It got so bad for Missouri's Jordan Geist during last Sunday's AdvoCare Invitational championship game down in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, that the only thing left for him to do was fire an inbound pass at the lower portion of Carter's midsection.
Naturally, Carter took a step back, caught it, and took it the other way for a fast-break basket.
Mickey Mouse had just grown horns.
"I just kind of read it," Carter shrugged. "He just didn't seem like he wanted to throw the ball inbounds, so I just backed up and he threw it to me."
Or at him!
Carter is easily college basketball's most impactful defensive player. Last year's NABC Defensive Player of the Year took over the Missouri game with his defense, making all four of his steals during the final seven minutes of the game to help turn a 16-point deficit into a four-point victory.
He finished with a game-high 29 points, several of those a result of his work on the defensive end of the floor.
Heading into tonight's New Jersey Tech game, he needs just two more steals to tie Greg Jones' 34-year school record of 251. Therefore, he should easily eclipse 300 by season's end at his current clip of 4.4 thefts per game.
He's got the quickness of a cheetah and the courage of a cat burglar, which help make him a good defensive player. But what makes him a great defensive player is much simpler – he's willing to do it.
"He really wants to be a great defender," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "He's got great feet. He's really worked hard in the weight room. He's got really good strength and he's got really good hands. With that combination – and you have the desire to guard – then you're going to be able to guard."
Huggins said he noticed that trait in Carter immediately the first time he saw him play an AAU game where defense is usually an afterthought.
"We were coming off a year when I had to beg guys to play and he goes out there (and played). I was in there at like 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning watching AAU ball and he was out there just playing his behind off and everybody else hadn't woke up yet. I called our guys and said this is our guy. We've got to get him."
Defense is not something you can really practice on your own like shooting, dribbling or rebounding.
What can you do, practice grabbing the ball quickly off the ball rack? Of course not.
It's a matter of having desire to be a good defender and then working on it when the team is together practicing.
It's not something Carter can easily describe either.
"It's just playing and anticipating," he shrugged. "Just be a good anticipator."
He said he doesn't study tape looking for weaknesses to help him steal the basketball, nor does he look into the eyes of his opponent to see if he's nervous or uncomfortable handling the ball.
His eyes are always on the basketball.
"I just play defense with my hands," he explained. "If you put the ball in my face I can't help but try and take it. If they make that mistake and try and put it in my face I'm going to try and take it."
And take it he does - soon to be more than anyone else in school history.
If West Virginia plays 30 more games this season, which would mean three Big 12 tournament games and at least three in the NCAA Tournament, Carter could have a shot at John Linehan's NCAA-record 385 steals, accumulated during an outstanding four-year career at Providence from 1998-2002.
He would have to maintain his average of about 4 ½ steals per game over the course of those 30 games to get there.
Is it possible? You bet.
Can Carter do it?
"Records are meant to be broken," he said.
And that means more miserable nights ahead for the guys handling the basketball in front of him, starting tonight with New Jersey Tech's Diandre Wilson, Reilly Walsh and Shyquan Gibbs.
Tipoff is 7 p.m. and the game will be televised locally on AT&T SportsNet (Rob King, Warren Baker and Robby Incmikoski). The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage (Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs) begins at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online through WVUsports.com and via the mobile app TuneIn.
Briefly: Senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. is coming off a 26-point performance against Missouri and now needs just 42 points to become WVU's 52nd 1,000-point scorer … "Press Virginia" is back in business leading the country once again in turnover margin (+11.3), forced turnovers (159) and is second in steals (82) … according to Ken Pom, West Virginia is one of just three teams to rank in the top 25 this week in turnover percentage, blocks and steals (the other two are Tennessee and St. John's) … Bob Huggins is now five wins shy of Jim Phelan for seventh place among Division I coaches in all-time wins with 830 … Phelan coached at Mount St. Mary's and his Mountaineer teams made two appearances at the WVU Coliseum in 1993 and 1988, both losses … Jevon Carter is averaging a team-best 18.1 points per game … He could be West Virginia's top scoring guard since Juwan Staten averaged 18.1 points per game during his junior year in 2014 … Before that, you probably have to go back to Huggins' Cincinnati days in the early 2000s when he had Steve Logan to find such a high-scoring guard in his lineup … "I don't think JC can score the way Lo scored, but that being said, Lo couldn't do a lot of the other things that JC does," Huggins said. "JC is not Lo any more than Logan was not (Nick) Van Exel, (Keith) LeGree or anyone else you want to talk about" … No. 19 West Virginia made its 39th straight appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week, the second-longest streak in school history … The longest was 56 straight weeks from March 1956 to March 1960 spanning the careers of All-Americans Hot Rod Hundley and Jerry West … On deck for West Virginia is an intriguing matchup against 18th-ranked Virginia next Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum … It will be Virginia's first regular season appearance at the Coliseum since Jan. 28, 1976, when Huggins was a Mountaineer player … the two teams met in an NIT game here on March 14, 1985, the Cavaliers claiming a 56-55 victory … With No. 7 Kentucky slated to come here on Jan. 27 as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, it will mark the first time since 2010 that West Virginia will play two nationally ranked non-conference opponents at the Coliseum … In 2010 WVU faced No. 15 Ole Miss and No. 21 Ohio State, the Mountaineers winning both games.
It was winner-stay-on and those lazy, sunny days were never better – that is until the dude who played cross-country defense showed up. In my case, that would have been my older brother!
Those wide-open shots you got from the top of the key were gone. Once uncontested drives to the basket became bumpier than driving the speed limit on West Run Road.
The full-court defense dude (my brother!) guarded you past the water fountain all the way to the urinal, a beautiful summer day gone to hell in a handbasket.
Well, multiply that by about a thousand and that's what it's like dribbling the basketball up the court with Jevon Carter standing in front of you.
It got so bad for Missouri's Jordan Geist during last Sunday's AdvoCare Invitational championship game down in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, that the only thing left for him to do was fire an inbound pass at the lower portion of Carter's midsection.
Naturally, Carter took a step back, caught it, and took it the other way for a fast-break basket.
Mickey Mouse had just grown horns.
"I just kind of read it," Carter shrugged. "He just didn't seem like he wanted to throw the ball inbounds, so I just backed up and he threw it to me."
Or at him!
Carter is easily college basketball's most impactful defensive player. Last year's NABC Defensive Player of the Year took over the Missouri game with his defense, making all four of his steals during the final seven minutes of the game to help turn a 16-point deficit into a four-point victory.
He finished with a game-high 29 points, several of those a result of his work on the defensive end of the floor.
Heading into tonight's New Jersey Tech game, he needs just two more steals to tie Greg Jones' 34-year school record of 251. Therefore, he should easily eclipse 300 by season's end at his current clip of 4.4 thefts per game.
He's got the quickness of a cheetah and the courage of a cat burglar, which help make him a good defensive player. But what makes him a great defensive player is much simpler – he's willing to do it.
"He really wants to be a great defender," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "He's got great feet. He's really worked hard in the weight room. He's got really good strength and he's got really good hands. With that combination – and you have the desire to guard – then you're going to be able to guard."
Huggins said he noticed that trait in Carter immediately the first time he saw him play an AAU game where defense is usually an afterthought.
"We were coming off a year when I had to beg guys to play and he goes out there (and played). I was in there at like 8 or 9 o'clock in the morning watching AAU ball and he was out there just playing his behind off and everybody else hadn't woke up yet. I called our guys and said this is our guy. We've got to get him."
Defense is not something you can really practice on your own like shooting, dribbling or rebounding.
What can you do, practice grabbing the ball quickly off the ball rack? Of course not.
It's a matter of having desire to be a good defender and then working on it when the team is together practicing.
It's not something Carter can easily describe either.
"It's just playing and anticipating," he shrugged. "Just be a good anticipator."
He said he doesn't study tape looking for weaknesses to help him steal the basketball, nor does he look into the eyes of his opponent to see if he's nervous or uncomfortable handling the ball.
His eyes are always on the basketball.
"I just play defense with my hands," he explained. "If you put the ball in my face I can't help but try and take it. If they make that mistake and try and put it in my face I'm going to try and take it."
And take it he does - soon to be more than anyone else in school history.
If West Virginia plays 30 more games this season, which would mean three Big 12 tournament games and at least three in the NCAA Tournament, Carter could have a shot at John Linehan's NCAA-record 385 steals, accumulated during an outstanding four-year career at Providence from 1998-2002.
He would have to maintain his average of about 4 ½ steals per game over the course of those 30 games to get there.
Is it possible? You bet.
Can Carter do it?
"Records are meant to be broken," he said.
And that means more miserable nights ahead for the guys handling the basketball in front of him, starting tonight with New Jersey Tech's Diandre Wilson, Reilly Walsh and Shyquan Gibbs.
Tipoff is 7 p.m. and the game will be televised locally on AT&T SportsNet (Rob King, Warren Baker and Robby Incmikoski). The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage (Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs) begins at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia, online through WVUsports.com and via the mobile app TuneIn.
Briefly: Senior guard Daxter Miles Jr. is coming off a 26-point performance against Missouri and now needs just 42 points to become WVU's 52nd 1,000-point scorer … "Press Virginia" is back in business leading the country once again in turnover margin (+11.3), forced turnovers (159) and is second in steals (82) … according to Ken Pom, West Virginia is one of just three teams to rank in the top 25 this week in turnover percentage, blocks and steals (the other two are Tennessee and St. John's) … Bob Huggins is now five wins shy of Jim Phelan for seventh place among Division I coaches in all-time wins with 830 … Phelan coached at Mount St. Mary's and his Mountaineer teams made two appearances at the WVU Coliseum in 1993 and 1988, both losses … Jevon Carter is averaging a team-best 18.1 points per game … He could be West Virginia's top scoring guard since Juwan Staten averaged 18.1 points per game during his junior year in 2014 … Before that, you probably have to go back to Huggins' Cincinnati days in the early 2000s when he had Steve Logan to find such a high-scoring guard in his lineup … "I don't think JC can score the way Lo scored, but that being said, Lo couldn't do a lot of the other things that JC does," Huggins said. "JC is not Lo any more than Logan was not (Nick) Van Exel, (Keith) LeGree or anyone else you want to talk about" … No. 19 West Virginia made its 39th straight appearance in the Associated Press Top 25 Poll this week, the second-longest streak in school history … The longest was 56 straight weeks from March 1956 to March 1960 spanning the careers of All-Americans Hot Rod Hundley and Jerry West … On deck for West Virginia is an intriguing matchup against 18th-ranked Virginia next Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum … It will be Virginia's first regular season appearance at the Coliseum since Jan. 28, 1976, when Huggins was a Mountaineer player … the two teams met in an NIT game here on March 14, 1985, the Cavaliers claiming a 56-55 victory … With No. 7 Kentucky slated to come here on Jan. 27 as part of the Big 12/SEC Challenge, it will mark the first time since 2010 that West Virginia will play two nationally ranked non-conference opponents at the Coliseum … In 2010 WVU faced No. 15 Ole Miss and No. 21 Ohio State, the Mountaineers winning both games.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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