Sunday, December 30
Morgantown, W.Va.
2:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Lehigh
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
Mountaineers Resume Play Sunday Afternoon Against Lehigh
December 29, 2018 12:02 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – A couple days away from his team for Christmas could give veteran West Virginia basketball coach Bob Huggins an opportunity to come up some with fresh solutions to the issues his young and inexperienced team is experiencing.
Or maybe not.
"I've gone back over the things that we used to do," Huggins said Friday morning. "But everything that you do is personnel-related. What worked for Wellington Smith when he played center didn't work for Deniz Kilicli, and what Deniz did doesn't work for Logan Routt. We're trying to figure out and mix and match the things that those guys do well into a unit. That's been difficult."
Huggins knows forward Sagaba Konate is still unavailable for Sunday's game against Lehigh, and guard Beetle Bolden is still dealing with the same ailments that have kept him out of two games so far this year.
Now you can add forward Lamont West to the team's growing injury list. Huggins said the junior forward banged up his knee in practice on Wednesday.
"It looks like a mash ward in the training room right now," Huggins said.
Consequently, the injuries have forced him to plug holes instead of getting his team fine-tuned for its Big 12 opener on the horizon next Wednesday night at the Coliseum against 11th-ranked Texas Tech.
"We've got so much stuff to get better at," Huggins explained. "We're trying to fix the pressure so that we can get something out of pressure, which we really haven't gotten much out of pressure other than maybe the Pitt game.
"We're trying to fix our half-court man-to-man defense, which has been deplorable, and we're trying to figure out ways that we can score," he said.
West Virginia's latest victory last Saturday afternoon against Jacksonville State produced more questions than answers. Huggins sat starting forward Esa Ahmad for all but four minutes of the Mountaineers' 74-72 win - a victory that could have very easily been a loss when the Gamecocks got off a potential go-ahead 3 with eight seconds remaining.
Huggins indicated afterward that he wasn't happy with the way Ahmad was performing. Since then, Huggins said Ahmad has been fine in practice.
"He does what he does," he noted. "You worry about him sometimes defensively and then you look and he leads our team in deflections. He leads our team in steals. It's not always done the way that you want it done, technically, but the bottom line is he's leading us in every defensive category that we keep track of."
At center, Huggins has been forced to devote most of his time to getting Routt, Andrew Gordon and Derrick Culver up to speed with Konate out with his injured right knee.
Routt knows what he's doing out there while Gordon and Culver are still learning what to do.
"We're trying to figure out how they can fit in the best. Take the Rhode Island game for instance. That showed Drew's lack of experience," Huggins explained. "He's only played basketball a couple of years. He gets a rebound and he starts walking with it, just habits you get when you haven't played organized basketball. We're trying to get him to understand a little bit better.
"And we're trying to get Derrick back in. You can't run sets with Derrick because he doesn't know them, so we end up doing some other things that may not be working toward the strengths of the other guys," he added.
Look for all three to see plenty of court time on Sunday afternoon against a solid Lehigh team that is coming off an 88-76 victory over St. Francis, Pa., boosting its record to 7-3.
Lehigh's three losses this year have come against Miami, Fla., Kansas State and Yale.
"They really shoot the ball," Huggins said. "They're very disciplined and they run a very precise offense. They put four guys on the floor that can really make shots and post a guy (6-8 junior forward Pat Andree) who ends up isolated because the other guys can make shots."
Defensively, Huggins said the Mountain Hawks will play a lot of matchup zone.
"It's a matchup with a lot of man-to-man principles," he said.
A 2 p.m. tipoff has been assigned for Sunday's game to accommodate local AT&T Sportsnet coverage (Rob King, Warren Baker, Nathan Adrian and Robby Incmikoski). The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG radio coverage begins at 1 p.m. on affiliates throughout the Mountain State and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app WVU Gameday.
Sunday's game will be the fifth meeting between these two schools and the first since 1989 when the Mountaineers defeated Lehigh 92-81 in the championship game of the Palm Beach Classic.
It will also be Lehigh's third visit to the Coliseum, the other two appearances coming when Huggins was a Mountaineer player in 1973 and 1975.
Or maybe not.
"I've gone back over the things that we used to do," Huggins said Friday morning. "But everything that you do is personnel-related. What worked for Wellington Smith when he played center didn't work for Deniz Kilicli, and what Deniz did doesn't work for Logan Routt. We're trying to figure out and mix and match the things that those guys do well into a unit. That's been difficult."
Huggins knows forward Sagaba Konate is still unavailable for Sunday's game against Lehigh, and guard Beetle Bolden is still dealing with the same ailments that have kept him out of two games so far this year.
Now you can add forward Lamont West to the team's growing injury list. Huggins said the junior forward banged up his knee in practice on Wednesday.
"It looks like a mash ward in the training room right now," Huggins said.
Consequently, the injuries have forced him to plug holes instead of getting his team fine-tuned for its Big 12 opener on the horizon next Wednesday night at the Coliseum against 11th-ranked Texas Tech.
"We've got so much stuff to get better at," Huggins explained. "We're trying to fix the pressure so that we can get something out of pressure, which we really haven't gotten much out of pressure other than maybe the Pitt game.
"We're trying to fix our half-court man-to-man defense, which has been deplorable, and we're trying to figure out ways that we can score," he said.
West Virginia's latest victory last Saturday afternoon against Jacksonville State produced more questions than answers. Huggins sat starting forward Esa Ahmad for all but four minutes of the Mountaineers' 74-72 win - a victory that could have very easily been a loss when the Gamecocks got off a potential go-ahead 3 with eight seconds remaining.
Huggins indicated afterward that he wasn't happy with the way Ahmad was performing. Since then, Huggins said Ahmad has been fine in practice.
"He does what he does," he noted. "You worry about him sometimes defensively and then you look and he leads our team in deflections. He leads our team in steals. It's not always done the way that you want it done, technically, but the bottom line is he's leading us in every defensive category that we keep track of."
At center, Huggins has been forced to devote most of his time to getting Routt, Andrew Gordon and Derrick Culver up to speed with Konate out with his injured right knee.
Routt knows what he's doing out there while Gordon and Culver are still learning what to do.
"We're trying to figure out how they can fit in the best. Take the Rhode Island game for instance. That showed Drew's lack of experience," Huggins explained. "He's only played basketball a couple of years. He gets a rebound and he starts walking with it, just habits you get when you haven't played organized basketball. We're trying to get him to understand a little bit better.
"And we're trying to get Derrick back in. You can't run sets with Derrick because he doesn't know them, so we end up doing some other things that may not be working toward the strengths of the other guys," he added.
Look for all three to see plenty of court time on Sunday afternoon against a solid Lehigh team that is coming off an 88-76 victory over St. Francis, Pa., boosting its record to 7-3.
Lehigh's three losses this year have come against Miami, Fla., Kansas State and Yale.
"They really shoot the ball," Huggins said. "They're very disciplined and they run a very precise offense. They put four guys on the floor that can really make shots and post a guy (6-8 junior forward Pat Andree) who ends up isolated because the other guys can make shots."
Defensively, Huggins said the Mountain Hawks will play a lot of matchup zone.
"It's a matchup with a lot of man-to-man principles," he said.
A 2 p.m. tipoff has been assigned for Sunday's game to accommodate local AT&T Sportsnet coverage (Rob King, Warren Baker, Nathan Adrian and Robby Incmikoski). The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG radio coverage begins at 1 p.m. on affiliates throughout the Mountain State and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app WVU Gameday.
Sunday's game will be the fifth meeting between these two schools and the first since 1989 when the Mountaineers defeated Lehigh 92-81 in the championship game of the Palm Beach Classic.
It will also be Lehigh's third visit to the Coliseum, the other two appearances coming when Huggins was a Mountaineer player in 1973 and 1975.
Players Mentioned
F
/ Men's Basketball
F
/ Men's BasketballTV Highlights: WVU 71, Pitt 49
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Ross Hodge | Pitt Postgame
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Thursday, November 13
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Thursday, November 13
