Saturday, December 1
Morgantown, W.Va.
4:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Youngstown State
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook - Youngstown State Preview
November 30, 2018 02:00 PM | Men's Basketball
| Tale of the Tape |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | 79.5 | 83.2 |
| Points Against | 80.5 | 76.5 |
| Field Goals Per Game | 28.3 | 26.3 |
| Field Goal Attempts Per Game | 66.6 | 59.5 |
| Field Goal Percentage | 42.6 | 44.3 |
| 3-Point Field Goals Per Game | 9.8 | 9.3 |
| 3-Point Field Goal Attempts Per Game | 30.0 | 26.1 |
| 3-Point Field Goal Percentage | 32.5 | 35.7 |
| Free Throws Per Game | 13.0 | 21.1 |
| Free Throw Attempts Per Game | 18.8 | 29.8 |
| Free Throw Percentage | 69.3 | 70.9 |
| Rebounds Per Game | 42.1 | 41.5 |
| Assists Per Game | 14.4 | 16.2 |
| Steals Per Game | 7.6 | 6.2 |
| Turnovers Per Game | 16.0 | 15.3 |
| Blocks Per Game | 3.6 | 5.2 |
Youngstown State coach Jerrod Calhoun will be returning to the Coliseum for the first time since 2012 when he was an assistant on Bob Huggins' Mountaineer staff. He spent six years working for Huggins, four as his director of basketball operations and two as an assistant coach before taking the Fairmont State job in 2013.
Calhoun led the Falcons to four NCAA Division II tournament appearances, including a trip to the finals in 2017 where they lost to Northwest Missouri State.
On the basis of his team's 34-3 record that season and his overall 124-38 mark at Fairmont State, Calhoun was hired to replace Jerry Slocum at Youngstown State prior to last season. The Penguins had struggled through a couple of 11-win season and then a 13-win campaign the year before Calhoun's arrival.
"It is kind of like what it was at Akron when I went there," Huggins said. "(After football) basketball was kind of an afterthought and that's what Jerrod is facing at Youngstown. Jerrod is not afraid to get into the community and I think he proved that at Fairmont getting people involved."
Calhoun's first year at Youngstown was difficult as the Penguins won just eight of 32 games and finished eighth in the nine-team Horizon Conference.
He has just two starters returning from last year's team and, consequently, the Penguins are off to a 3-5 start heading into Saturday's game in Morgantown.
The three victories were against Heidelberg, Columbia and Westminster while the losses were to Pitt, Akron, Fordham, FIU and, most recently, at Robert Morris.
In its season opener against Pitt, Youngstown trailed the Panthers by just three at halftime before Pitt eventually shook loose in the second half. Six-three junior guard Kendale Hampton came off the bench to lead the Penguins with 15 points.
Hampton, from Columbia, South Carolina, continues to come off the bench and leads Youngstown State in scoring (11.3.ppg.) and 3-point shooting by knocking down 45.7 percent of his 46 triples.
Six-five sophomore guard Garrett Covington is the only other double-digit scorer for the Penguins averaging 10.3 points per contest. Covington and 6-6 sophomore forward Naz Bohannon are Calhoun's two returning starters from last year's team.
In its most recent loss at Robert Morris on Wednesday night, Hampton led Youngstown State with a career-high 21 points – all coming from 3 – but the Penguins shot just 35.1 percent from the floor while committing 18 turnovers that led to 24 Robert Morris points.
Calhoun is using a version of West Virginia's full-court pressing defense that helped the Mountaineers to records of 25-10, 26-9, 28-9 and 26-11 since its inception in 2015. WVU is not pressing quite as much this season.
"Jerrod certainly heard a lot about it playing at Cleveland State and he came up when he was at Fairmont and watched us practice, kind of liked it, and he's done a great job with it," Huggins said.
Huggins has occasionally faced some of his former assistant coaches through the years. He once played a home and home series against former assistant coach Andy Kennedy when Kennedy was head coach at Ole Miss, and Huggins and Frank Martin hooked up in 2011 when Martin was at Kansas State.
"When we played Kansas State in Wichita we had plane problems and didn't get there until about 4:30 in the morning, and Frank was at the hotel waiting in the lobby for us," Huggins recalled. "You have that bond and that relationship. We go to the Final Four and we all hang out together. It's very much kind of a brotherhood until you throw the ball up. Then when you throw the ball up all bets are off. We're all trying to win."
That game came down to a Kevin Jones 3-pointer to send it into overtime, which West Virginia eventually won 85-80.
Huggins also faced former assistant coach Brad Underwood when he was at Stephen F. Austin and later at Oklahoma State.
Saturday against Youngstown State, the Mountaineers (4-2) are looking to continue their current three-game winning streak that has seen them defeat St. Joseph's, Valparaiso and Rider in succession.
In its most recent victory against Rider, junior forward Lamont West came off the bench to score 20 points - 12 of those coming from 3-point distance. Senior forward Esa Ahmad contributed 16 and junior guard Beetle Bolden's return to the floor saw him score 12, all in the first half.Huggins said he held Bolden out in the second half for precautionary reasons. Bolden has missed two games so far this season for a variety of ailments.
Junior forward Sagaba Konate was dressed for the Rider game but did not see action because he did not participate in the two prior practices leading up to the Rider game. In Konate's last game against Valparaiso last Saturday, he scored a career-high 26 points with 10 rebounds.
Konate and Bolden were both on the floor for this afternoon's practice.
Huggins said he is looking for more consistency from his young team and a better effort on the defensive end of the floor on Saturday against Youngstown State.
"I watched the film and I'm like, 'Who's team is this?' This isn't what we do and this isn't what we've stood for and we've got to get a whole lot better," Huggins said.
Saturday's game will tip at 4 p.m. to accommodate AT&T Sportsnet local television coverage (Rob King, Nathan Adrian, Warren Baker and Robbie Incmikoski). A live stream of the telecast for out-of-market viewers will be available via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app TuneIn.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's radio coverage begins at 3 p.m. on affiliates throughout West Virginia and online through WVUsports.com and TuneIn.
GAME NOTES: Saturday's game will be the Mountaineers' fifth meeting against Youngstown State, four of them coming in Morgantown … WVU's only game in Youngstown happened in 1982 when star WVU guard Greg Jones was given the opportunity to play in front of friends and family in his native Youngstown … Huggins has faced the Penguins 14 times when he was head coach at Akron and Cincinnati, winning 10 and losing four … West Virginia is 117-30 in non-conference regular season games under Huggins, including a 66-6 record at the WVU Coliseum … Huggins remains the third winningest active coach with 849 victories behind just Duke's Mike Krzyzewski and Syracuse's Jim Boeheim … West and Ahmad share top game scoring honors three times each so far this year … West led the Mountaineers in scoring against Buffalo (20), St. Joseph's (27) and Rider (20), while Ahmad was the top point-getter against Monmouth (16), Western Kentucky (12) and Valparaiso (30) … West leads all current Mountaineer players with six career 20-point games … Konate is the only WVU player to grab 10 or more rebounds in a game so far this year, doing it once against Valparaiso (10) … Junior guard Chase Harler is currently leading the Mountaineers in minutes played averaging 29 per game … Mark Richmond, once a head manager under Huggins at WVU, will be sitting on Youngstown State's bench Saturday as its director of basketball operations.
Players Mentioned
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/ Men's Basketball
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