WVU's Bigs Need to Come Up Big Against Smaller Murray State

Friday, March 16

San Diego, Calif.

4:00 p.m.

West Virginia University

Murray State

Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks

WVU's Bigs Need to Come Up Big Against Smaller Murray State

March 15, 2018 07:00 PM | Men's Basketball

By: John Antonik

SAN DIEGO - There is an old sports adage that big, fast guys are better to have than little, fast guys.

Well, if fifth-seeded West Virginia wants to advance beyond Friday's NCAA Tournament first-round matchup against 12^th-seeded Murray State, it's going to have to use its size and strength in the paint against the much smaller, more perimeter-oriented Racers, who play just like their nickname suggests.

Murray State wants to get out and run the floor and shoot 3s, players one through five.

Therefore, West Virginia's bigs Sagaba Konate, Logan Routt and Maciej Bender are going to have to play big when the Mountaineers are on offense, and they are going to have to play big and fast with their hands up in the air when Murray State is on offense.

Disrupt the Racer shooters, box out and create havoc on the backboard.

"They're not a team with great length, and I think that's to our advantage," West Virginia assistant coach Erik Martin, in charge of the Mountaineers bigs, said Thursday. "Besides Sags, the other guys don't get a lot of touches, so go get it off the glass. I don't know what our record is when we outrebound teams, but with our height - and all three of those guys move pretty well - we've got to try and beat them on the glass."

There is not much to go on when examining the games Murray State has played in the Ohio Valley Conference or in non-conference play to compare against West Virginia.

The only Power 5 school Murray State faced was Auburn, but the Tigers, under Bruce Pearl, play a perimeter-oriented style similar to the Racers. The two teams attempted a combined 51 triples, and the Tigers barely beat Murray State on the glass by four rebounds in a four-point Auburn victory.

"We've been a good rebounding team all season long," Murray State coach Matt McMahon said. "Now this is about to be another level with West Virginia being fourth in the country in offensive rebounding percentage. We're going to have to rebound - gang-rebound with all five."

St. Louis of the Atlantic 10 Conference defeated Murray State by 14 points, and the Billikens had a four-board edge on the glass, but Murray State shot just 5-of-28 from 3 in that game and collapsed in the second half after leading by three at intermission.

Conference USA's Middle Tennessee State handled Murray State on the backboards, 38-29, in a five-point victory, but again, it was the Racers' inability to hit 3-pointer that played a bigger role in their defeat.

West Virginia is going to have to stick with Murray State's 3-point shooters, including 6-foot-8, 245-pound senior forward Terrell Miller Jr.

There are times when Miller is asked to bring the ball up the floor, which means at times the Mountaineer bigs are going to have to move their feet and guard him all the way up the floor.

"It's upon us to sit down and guard the ball," Konate noted.

"We've got to make them take tough shots," Routt added. "They get out and run in transition really well, so we have to run and not settle for bad shots and let them get the rebound and push it. It's all about doing what we do, really."

Martin believes they can.

"Since the summer, we've had our bigs guarding guards, so they know how to sit down, and Magic is probably the best," Martin explained. "He can sit down in front of (Jevon Carter) and (Daxter Miles Jr.) and really keep them in front of him. It's not something they do for an extended period of time, but they know the scouting report, and they know Terrell is going to have the ball dribbling up, and they are going to have to keep him in front of them.

"We're not asking them to lock him up - block the lane and when he shoots it from deep, get your hand up," Martin said.

Offensively, West Virginia gets a lot of its points on the glass and that needs to be a part of its successful formula against Murray State, especially if the Mountaineers' streaky outside shooters are not on.

And that's where Konate, Routt and Bender - and even 6-foot-8-inch forward Esa Ahmad - have to come up big, literally and figuratively.

"It's an effort-type stat," McMahon said. "I think that's why West Virginia is so good at it on the offensive glass because they're relentless, and we try to do the same thing."

"If we can score in the paint, that will open up things outside, and if we can make them work on defense, that will affect their legs on offense and maybe their 3s won't fall and they will be short on some of them, hopefully," Routt reasoned.

Routt said West Virginia has faced teams with mobile bigs in the Big 12 this year; Iowa State and Oklahoma are two that immediately come to mind.

"It's not something we're used to, but we have faced it in the Big 12 this year," he said. "We've seen it before. He shoots it extremely well from really deep. He's a really good player so we've got to guard him."

What it boils down to is West Virginia's big guys have to play big - and just as fast or faster than Murray State's much smaller bigs.

It's an early 1 p.m. tip off here locally, but not for those of you watching TNT on the East Coast.

West Virginia's game against Murray State will follow fourth-seeded Wichita State facing 13^th-seeded Marshall in game one.

The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage will begin at 3 p.m. ET.

Briefly:

* West Virginia coach Bob Huggins has pointed to his team's poor practices leading up to its 2016 upset loss to 14^th-seeded Stephen F. Austin in Brooklyn as being a big factor in the defeat. Huggins said the practices leading up to Friday's game have been much better.

"They could have been better," he said. "They probably could have gone worse. It's a long year, you know, playing against the same people every day.

"We were okay (Wednesday). Actually, (Wednesday) I thought we were pretty good - most of us. Everybody wasn't, but most of them were."

* McMahon said Thursday his Racers have not faced full-court pressure quite like what they expect to face Friday afternoon.

"We've played against pressing teams, but we know this will be different," McMahon said. "We're fortunate to have great guard play with freshman Ja Morant and our senior Jonathan Stark. But you can't simulate it, the pressure they are going to see.

"We know we will have to handle their pressure, not just in the full court. They're just as good in the half court with their man-to-man pressure, so we know what we're up against and it will certainly be a challenge."

* The last time Murray State lost a basketball game was on Jan. 18 at Belmont. The Racers have won 13 straight games since then.

* One common opponent is Marist, which West Virginia struggled to defeat, 84-78, in Lake Buena Vista, Florida, back on Nov. 23 while the Racers had little trouble with the Red Foxes, defeating them by a 100-63 margin at home on Dec. 16.