Photo by: Jennifer Shephard
Campus Connection: Another Hoop Season Begins
November 09, 2018 04:23 PM | Men's Basketball, Blog
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – It all begins later tonight inside the WVU Coliseum with a later-than-usual 9 p.m. tipoff against a Buffalo Bulls team that has most of its players returning from last year's squad that won 27 games.
How good is Buffalo?
There are some who believe the Bulls could be this year's Loyola-Chicago - that's how good.
This is likely the best basketball team West Virginia is opening its season with at the Coliseum since facing Robert Morris to begin the 1988-89 campaign.
If you recall, coach Jarrett Durham's Colonials stunned the Mountaineers 75-67 on Nov. 26, 1988. That Robert Morris squad won 21 games and captured the Northeast Conference tournament before losing to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The season-opening loss didn't faze West Virginia, however. The Mountaineers eventually claimed 26 wins and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Duke that year.
Considering what's ahead for West Virginia this season, this could end up being the most difficult schedule in school history by season's end.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins certainly believes so, starting tonight with the Bulls.
"Usually I play somebody we can beat," Huggins said before Thursday's practice. "One year at Cincinnati we were opening the new arena and my AD was bent on playing somebody ranked so we played Minnesota. I had a walk-on football player make a 3 at the end of the game to win it on an out-of-bounds play with two or three seconds left on the clock."
It might come down to something like that tonight.
We'll see.
And now, on to more Mountaineer sports notes …
* Here is something to keep an eye on during tomorrow's TCU-West Virginia game at Milan Puskar Stadium – the Horned Frogs' two defensive ends BEN BANOGU and L.J. COLLIER. Combined, they have 11 ½ of TCU's 24 ½ sacks, and they also have 18 ½ tackles for losses between them.
West Virginia tackles Yodny Cajuste and Colton McKivitz will have a big challenge trying to keep Banogu and Collier off quarterback Will Grier.
"You're definitely going to have to take them into account, not just in pass rush but also in the run game," West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said earlier this week. "They're very active in the run game. They do a lot of stunts and twists, especially the front side into the run. We have to be patient with what we're trying to accomplish with the zone schemes."
It may also require tight end Trevon Wesco to remained attached more frequently to help with pass protection.
"Last year they gave us problems," Spavital noted. "(Banogu) would twist all the way and hit Will in the back-side B gap. You have to be able to pass twists off and bump them all off. You have to make sure that if they are on the edge, that you get hats on them because they can condense the pocket quickly and be disruptive."
"We don't want to sit Will back there 50 times if we don't have to with those guys coming off the edge like that," Coach Dana Holgorsen added. "It could be a problem."
* West Virginia is averaging six fewer plays per game compared to last year, which Holgorsen admits has been challenging when it comes to getting all of his top playmakers enough touches.
"We're not snapping the ball a lot," he said. "We're averaging (66.8) snaps per game. That's low. There's only one ball. I remember in 2014 we went to Maryland and snapped it 120 times and we were down to our fourth back in the fourth quarter."
Because teams are trying to possess the football to keep West Virginia's offense off the field, that has meant about 10 to 12 possessions a game for the Mountaineer offense so far this season.
But that could change on Saturday.
TCU is not a team capable of putting together a lot of sustained scoring drives, particularly now with Penn transfer Mike Collins at quarterback. The Horned Frogs have just three touchdown drives of 10 plays or longer this year and only two in Big 12 play – one coming against Iowa State and the other two weeks ago at Kansas.
Both TCU touchdown drives during last week's 14-13 win over Kansas State consisted of four plays, one coming from the Wildcat 43-yard line.
Therefore, Saturday's game could be a 13 or 14-possession affair for the Mountaineer offense.
* According to Spavital, McKivitz seems to block much better against odd fronts. Last week against Texas, the Mountaineers enjoyed a lot of their success running the right side behind McKivitz and Wesco. WVU ran for 232 yards against the Longhorns, the most they have given up all season.
"We were allowing the offensive line to block the box and having Wesco block the perimeter stuff," Spavital explained. "We knew Colton could get that block and Wesco was going to be on the safety. He actually blocked two guys on that touchdown run for (Martell Pettaway)."
In the past, TCU has been predominantly a four-down front, but injuries have forced the Horned Frogs to show some three-down looks this year as well.
TCU has endured 20 season-ending injuries and 36 different guys have missed playing time so far this season.
Hit hardest is the safety position, a key position in GARY PATTERSON'S defense.
"I don't know if I've ever been down seven safeties in a three-safety system," Patterson said earlier this week. "Freshmen say they want to play, so here we go."
* On the flip side, West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson finally has a full complement of linebackers for the first time since the start of the season.
Gibson said earlier this week that Quondarius Qualls and Brendan Ferns, out since last spring, were fully cleared and available to practice this week. Gibson said middle linebacker Dylan Tonkery should also be ready to go after missing the Iowa State, Baylor and Texas games with a nagging hamstring injury.
"This week they're in the plan," Gibson said. "It's full speed ahead. It's good to get some guys back."
The return of Qualls and Fern likely won't change the starting lineup on Saturday, but it could impact the number of plays his starters end up logging.
"It could give our guys a play or a snap to get a breather, No .1," Gibson said. "We're not going to change our scheme or do anything different. Those guys are Mike and Sam linebackers, which adds some depth and that's needed."
* Senior Naomi Davenport performed a rarity during West Virginia's 78-37 victory over Coppin State earlier this week. She became the first Mountaineer women's player since 1987 to have a triple-double in a game. She did it with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against the Bald Eagles.
"They left the high post open and she did a nice job scoring, passing and rebounding from it," Coach Mike Carey said. "That was good to see."
The last women's player to register a triple-double was guard DIONNE MORRIS against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 21, 1987 when she scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out 10 assists.
The only other players to record triple-doubles in school history were JEAN MEWSHAW in 1976, J.D. DRUMMONDS in 1980 and GEORGEANN WELLS, who performed the feat twice in 1985.
Coppin State has seen some history made against it on the baseball diamond as well. I recall shortstop BOB SPANGLER once hitting for the cycle against the Bald Eagles (in five innings), and I believe MATT YURISH also once pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against them as well.
By the way, Yurish is beginning his second season as Alderson Broaddus College's head baseball coach.
* I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of running back TOM GRAY, a four-year Mountaineer football lettermen for Don Nehlen from 1982-85. Gray's best season at WVU came in 1985 when he accounted for 809 total yards and three touchdowns from scrimmage.
He ran for a career-high 149 yards in West Virginia's 20-16 come-from-behind victory over Kentucky in the 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama, and he also had 100-plus-yard rushing performances against Rutgers (146) and Temple (115) during his senior season in 1985.
He accounted for 2,171 total yards from scrimmage, including 76 receptions for 634 yards and three touchdowns. Gray's 76 career catches rank second to Noel Devine's 98 for running backs in school history.
* JACK JOHNS, a lifelong Morgantown resident and a great friend of West Virginia University athletics, also died earlier this week. Jack was the public address announcer for Mountaineer women's basketball games from 1991-2008, and he also served as press box announcer for WVU football games at Milan Puskar Stadium for 13 years.
He worked 28 years at West Virginia University as a radio specialist at the Extension Service and was a great ambassador for Morgantown High, his alma mater where he was the well-known Voice of the Mohigans for years. He will be sadly missed.
* Another recent notable passing was that of Penn State halfback WALLY TRIPLETT, the first African-American draft pick to play in the NFL in 1949.
Triplett, from La Mott, Pennsylvania, was a Mountaineer slayer during his four-year career with the Nittany Lions.
He caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Woody Petchel to defeat West Virginia 21-14 in 1947, and a year later he accounted for 231 all-purpose yards, 85 of that coming on a punt return for a touchdown, in Penn State's 37-7 victory over the Mountaineers at Beaver Field.
Later that season, Triplett became the first African-American to play in the Cotton Bowl when Penn State tied SMU 13-13.
* And finally, senior wide receiver Gary Jennings Jr. has become the master of one-word answers. Getting him to expand on topics is a lot like trying to get your 10-year-old to eat his or her vegetables.
But occasionally Jennings Jr. will open up, as he did earlier this week when describing his touchdown catch with 33 seconds left to put West Virginia in position to beat Texas.
"The thing is it wasn't a perfect play from the start," he explained. "They made a substitution, and the referee was holding the ball from the center. The clock was still ticking and everybody was wondering what was going on. Once the ref got out of the way, Will quickly snapped the ball.
"I don't think he thought that I was going to get behind the defender at first," Jennings Jr. continued. "He made a great pass in the back of the end zone."
And Jennings Jr. made a great catch.
Now you know the rest of the story!
Have a great weekend everyone and I hope to see you at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday.
How good is Buffalo?
There are some who believe the Bulls could be this year's Loyola-Chicago - that's how good.
This is likely the best basketball team West Virginia is opening its season with at the Coliseum since facing Robert Morris to begin the 1988-89 campaign.
If you recall, coach Jarrett Durham's Colonials stunned the Mountaineers 75-67 on Nov. 26, 1988. That Robert Morris squad won 21 games and captured the Northeast Conference tournament before losing to Arizona in the first round of the NCAA Tournament.
The season-opening loss didn't faze West Virginia, however. The Mountaineers eventually claimed 26 wins and advanced to the second round of the NCAA Tournament where they fell to Duke that year.
Considering what's ahead for West Virginia this season, this could end up being the most difficult schedule in school history by season's end.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins certainly believes so, starting tonight with the Bulls.
"Usually I play somebody we can beat," Huggins said before Thursday's practice. "One year at Cincinnati we were opening the new arena and my AD was bent on playing somebody ranked so we played Minnesota. I had a walk-on football player make a 3 at the end of the game to win it on an out-of-bounds play with two or three seconds left on the clock."
It might come down to something like that tonight.
We'll see.
And now, on to more Mountaineer sports notes …
* Here is something to keep an eye on during tomorrow's TCU-West Virginia game at Milan Puskar Stadium – the Horned Frogs' two defensive ends BEN BANOGU and L.J. COLLIER. Combined, they have 11 ½ of TCU's 24 ½ sacks, and they also have 18 ½ tackles for losses between them.West Virginia tackles Yodny Cajuste and Colton McKivitz will have a big challenge trying to keep Banogu and Collier off quarterback Will Grier.
"You're definitely going to have to take them into account, not just in pass rush but also in the run game," West Virginia offensive coordinator Jake Spavital said earlier this week. "They're very active in the run game. They do a lot of stunts and twists, especially the front side into the run. We have to be patient with what we're trying to accomplish with the zone schemes."
It may also require tight end Trevon Wesco to remained attached more frequently to help with pass protection.
"Last year they gave us problems," Spavital noted. "(Banogu) would twist all the way and hit Will in the back-side B gap. You have to be able to pass twists off and bump them all off. You have to make sure that if they are on the edge, that you get hats on them because they can condense the pocket quickly and be disruptive."
"We don't want to sit Will back there 50 times if we don't have to with those guys coming off the edge like that," Coach Dana Holgorsen added. "It could be a problem."
* West Virginia is averaging six fewer plays per game compared to last year, which Holgorsen admits has been challenging when it comes to getting all of his top playmakers enough touches.
"We're not snapping the ball a lot," he said. "We're averaging (66.8) snaps per game. That's low. There's only one ball. I remember in 2014 we went to Maryland and snapped it 120 times and we were down to our fourth back in the fourth quarter."
Because teams are trying to possess the football to keep West Virginia's offense off the field, that has meant about 10 to 12 possessions a game for the Mountaineer offense so far this season.
But that could change on Saturday.
TCU is not a team capable of putting together a lot of sustained scoring drives, particularly now with Penn transfer Mike Collins at quarterback. The Horned Frogs have just three touchdown drives of 10 plays or longer this year and only two in Big 12 play – one coming against Iowa State and the other two weeks ago at Kansas.
Both TCU touchdown drives during last week's 14-13 win over Kansas State consisted of four plays, one coming from the Wildcat 43-yard line.
Therefore, Saturday's game could be a 13 or 14-possession affair for the Mountaineer offense.
* According to Spavital, McKivitz seems to block much better against odd fronts. Last week against Texas, the Mountaineers enjoyed a lot of their success running the right side behind McKivitz and Wesco. WVU ran for 232 yards against the Longhorns, the most they have given up all season."We were allowing the offensive line to block the box and having Wesco block the perimeter stuff," Spavital explained. "We knew Colton could get that block and Wesco was going to be on the safety. He actually blocked two guys on that touchdown run for (Martell Pettaway)."
In the past, TCU has been predominantly a four-down front, but injuries have forced the Horned Frogs to show some three-down looks this year as well.
TCU has endured 20 season-ending injuries and 36 different guys have missed playing time so far this season.
Hit hardest is the safety position, a key position in GARY PATTERSON'S defense.
"I don't know if I've ever been down seven safeties in a three-safety system," Patterson said earlier this week. "Freshmen say they want to play, so here we go."
* On the flip side, West Virginia defensive coordinator Tony Gibson finally has a full complement of linebackers for the first time since the start of the season.
Gibson said earlier this week that Quondarius Qualls and Brendan Ferns, out since last spring, were fully cleared and available to practice this week. Gibson said middle linebacker Dylan Tonkery should also be ready to go after missing the Iowa State, Baylor and Texas games with a nagging hamstring injury.
"This week they're in the plan," Gibson said. "It's full speed ahead. It's good to get some guys back."
The return of Qualls and Fern likely won't change the starting lineup on Saturday, but it could impact the number of plays his starters end up logging.
"It could give our guys a play or a snap to get a breather, No .1," Gibson said. "We're not going to change our scheme or do anything different. Those guys are Mike and Sam linebackers, which adds some depth and that's needed."
* Senior Naomi Davenport performed a rarity during West Virginia's 78-37 victory over Coppin State earlier this week. She became the first Mountaineer women's player since 1987 to have a triple-double in a game. She did it with 13 points, 13 rebounds and 10 assists against the Bald Eagles."They left the high post open and she did a nice job scoring, passing and rebounding from it," Coach Mike Carey said. "That was good to see."
The last women's player to register a triple-double was guard DIONNE MORRIS against St. Bonaventure on Dec. 21, 1987 when she scored 12 points, grabbed 11 rebounds and handed out 10 assists.
The only other players to record triple-doubles in school history were JEAN MEWSHAW in 1976, J.D. DRUMMONDS in 1980 and GEORGEANN WELLS, who performed the feat twice in 1985.
Coppin State has seen some history made against it on the baseball diamond as well. I recall shortstop BOB SPANGLER once hitting for the cycle against the Bald Eagles (in five innings), and I believe MATT YURISH also once pitched a seven-inning no-hitter against them as well.
By the way, Yurish is beginning his second season as Alderson Broaddus College's head baseball coach.
* I was saddened to hear of the recent passing of running back TOM GRAY, a four-year Mountaineer football lettermen for Don Nehlen from 1982-85. Gray's best season at WVU came in 1985 when he accounted for 809 total yards and three touchdowns from scrimmage.He ran for a career-high 149 yards in West Virginia's 20-16 come-from-behind victory over Kentucky in the 1983 Hall of Fame Bowl in Birmingham, Alabama, and he also had 100-plus-yard rushing performances against Rutgers (146) and Temple (115) during his senior season in 1985.
He accounted for 2,171 total yards from scrimmage, including 76 receptions for 634 yards and three touchdowns. Gray's 76 career catches rank second to Noel Devine's 98 for running backs in school history.
* JACK JOHNS, a lifelong Morgantown resident and a great friend of West Virginia University athletics, also died earlier this week. Jack was the public address announcer for Mountaineer women's basketball games from 1991-2008, and he also served as press box announcer for WVU football games at Milan Puskar Stadium for 13 years.
He worked 28 years at West Virginia University as a radio specialist at the Extension Service and was a great ambassador for Morgantown High, his alma mater where he was the well-known Voice of the Mohigans for years. He will be sadly missed.
* Another recent notable passing was that of Penn State halfback WALLY TRIPLETT, the first African-American draft pick to play in the NFL in 1949.
Triplett, from La Mott, Pennsylvania, was a Mountaineer slayer during his four-year career with the Nittany Lions.
He caught a 48-yard touchdown pass from Woody Petchel to defeat West Virginia 21-14 in 1947, and a year later he accounted for 231 all-purpose yards, 85 of that coming on a punt return for a touchdown, in Penn State's 37-7 victory over the Mountaineers at Beaver Field.
Later that season, Triplett became the first African-American to play in the Cotton Bowl when Penn State tied SMU 13-13.
* And finally, senior wide receiver Gary Jennings Jr. has become the master of one-word answers. Getting him to expand on topics is a lot like trying to get your 10-year-old to eat his or her vegetables.
But occasionally Jennings Jr. will open up, as he did earlier this week when describing his touchdown catch with 33 seconds left to put West Virginia in position to beat Texas.
"The thing is it wasn't a perfect play from the start," he explained. "They made a substitution, and the referee was holding the ball from the center. The clock was still ticking and everybody was wondering what was going on. Once the ref got out of the way, Will quickly snapped the ball.
"I don't think he thought that I was going to get behind the defender at first," Jennings Jr. continued. "He made a great pass in the back of the end zone."
And Jennings Jr. made a great catch.
Now you know the rest of the story!
Have a great weekend everyone and I hope to see you at Milan Puskar Stadium on Saturday.
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