Life as a Mountaineer - Derek Culver
February 13, 2019 10:10 AM | Men's Basketball
West Virginia University forward Derek Culver says he's used to getting thrown into the fire.
That's certainly been the case this year, and it happened to him once before when he played at Warren G. Harding High in Youngstown, Ohio.
"When I was a freshman in high school I had to play varsity all four years," the soft-spoken freshman recalled. "I felt like I had to be more of a hybrid-four because I had to be quicker on my feet. Now, in the college game, I have to slow myself down and use my muscle mass and use my size as my advantages instead of my quickness."
It's working. Culver has been one of the few bright spots for the Mountaineers this season, the 6-foot-10-inch, 255-pounder averaging 11.7 points and a team-best 8.7 rebounds per game.
He's had five double-doubles in 14 games and is averaging 12.2 points and 9.5 rebounds in 11 Big 12 games so far this year.
He's certainly a guy West Virginia can build around for the future. According to Culver, it's just a matter of getting a little more comfortable with his surroundings.
"I feel like if I slow down and take my time all of my moves will be where I want them to be instead of just rushing like I did in high school," he explained. "Here, you can see the moves that I'm doing I'm comfortable but it's not really like second nature yet."
Culver says he's learning every day working with Erik Martin, West Virginia's veteran assistant coach with a proven track record of developing bigs.
"I'm learning every day. I try my best to learn and be like a sponge and absorb everything, but that being said I'm still out there clueless though," Culver admitted. "I'm out there just winging it kind of. I'm just a kid in a candy shop looking around and figuring out what I want to do."
Culver says Martin is always stressing rebound, rebound, rebound.
"He's always telling me, 'If you just work on rim-running, grabbing the ball and just chinning it and passing it to the guards,' he said that will make my life here so much easier," Culver said.
He added, "I never thought I would be starting a game this year. My last year at Brewster (Academy) I never would have thought of this. I'm just trying to take it day by day."
Life as a Mountaineer is presented each week by Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
Produced by Sean Merinar
That's certainly been the case this year, and it happened to him once before when he played at Warren G. Harding High in Youngstown, Ohio.
"When I was a freshman in high school I had to play varsity all four years," the soft-spoken freshman recalled. "I felt like I had to be more of a hybrid-four because I had to be quicker on my feet. Now, in the college game, I have to slow myself down and use my muscle mass and use my size as my advantages instead of my quickness."
It's working. Culver has been one of the few bright spots for the Mountaineers this season, the 6-foot-10-inch, 255-pounder averaging 11.7 points and a team-best 8.7 rebounds per game.
He's had five double-doubles in 14 games and is averaging 12.2 points and 9.5 rebounds in 11 Big 12 games so far this year.He's certainly a guy West Virginia can build around for the future. According to Culver, it's just a matter of getting a little more comfortable with his surroundings.
"I feel like if I slow down and take my time all of my moves will be where I want them to be instead of just rushing like I did in high school," he explained. "Here, you can see the moves that I'm doing I'm comfortable but it's not really like second nature yet."
Culver says he's learning every day working with Erik Martin, West Virginia's veteran assistant coach with a proven track record of developing bigs.
"I'm learning every day. I try my best to learn and be like a sponge and absorb everything, but that being said I'm still out there clueless though," Culver admitted. "I'm out there just winging it kind of. I'm just a kid in a candy shop looking around and figuring out what I want to do."
Culver says Martin is always stressing rebound, rebound, rebound.
"He's always telling me, 'If you just work on rim-running, grabbing the ball and just chinning it and passing it to the guards,' he said that will make my life here so much easier," Culver said.
He added, "I never thought I would be starting a game this year. My last year at Brewster (Academy) I never would have thought of this. I'm just trying to take it day by day."
Life as a Mountaineer is presented each week by Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration.
Produced by Sean Merinar
Players Mentioned
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