Photo by: Big 12 Conference
Huggins: Young Mountaineers Need More Court Time
March 18, 2019 01:14 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – West Virginia coach Bob Huggins admitted Monday there is a big part of him that would like to see the season come to an end, but the greater good demands that his young team continues playing.
So Huggins, who typically does the talk-show circuit this morning before another March Madness begins this weekend, is instead getting up to speed on the Grand Canyon Antelopes of the Western Athletic Conference.
Grand Canyon will be West Virginia's opening-round opponent in the Roman College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
"There is a lot of me that would like to (put this season to bed) but you've got to do what's best for the program," Huggins said. "We basically have a bunch of guys that have only been playing for half a year. They were playing behind a bunch of people or weren't playing at all, so I think it's a great experience for them."
Huggins' young team certainly learned some valuable lessons in Kansas City last week where they upset NCAA Tournament participants Oklahoma and Texas Tech before falling to another NCAA team, Kansas, in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
West Virginia (14-20) was leading the Jayhawks by seven late in the first half before Kansas finished on a 23-8 run.
"I think we just ran out of gas," Huggins said. "I think that's 100 percent what it was."
Grand Canyon, winners of 20 games this season before falling 89-57 to New Mexico State in the WAC championship game last Saturday, is making its second straight appearance in the CBI under former NBA standout Dan Majerle, now in his sixth season there.
"I know him," Huggins said. "We've been together a few times."
The Antelopes won 22 games in 2018 and 2017 after capturing 27 victories and advancing to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament quarterfinals in 2016.
Majerle has a 123-71 overall record at Grand Canyon, and has either finished second or third in the WAC all six seasons he's been there.
Five players on Majerle's roster are four-year transfers including two of his top players, Carlos Johnson (Washington) and Michael Finke (Illinois).
Johnson, a 6-3, 215-pound guard from Centralia, Illinois, leads the Antelopes in scoring with 14.6 points per game.
Finke, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward from Champaign, Illinois, is third in scoring with 12.2 points per game and is second in rebounding at 5.1 boards per contest.
Alessandro Lever, a 6-10, 230-pound sophomore from Bolzano, Italy, is the team's second leading scorer at 12.7 points per game while pulling down 4.2 rebounds per contest.
Four different countries and six different states crisscrossing America from Delaware to California make up Majerle's Grand Canyon roster.
The only common opponent is Texas, which defeated Grand Canyon 98-60 in Austin on Dec. 15. The Longhorns topped West Virginia twice, 61-54 in Austin on Jan. 5 and 75-53 in Morgantown a month later.
"I just think we need to play," Huggins said. "The more experience these guys get the better prepared they're going to be for next year."
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and all tickets are general admission and are priced at $10. WVU students will be admitted free with a valid student ID at the Mountaineer Gate. Students are encouraged to use their normal lower section to watch Wednesday's game.
There will be no live television but a free live stream will be available through WVUsports.com.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College will carry the game on its normal network affiliates.
Briefly:
* Huggins was asked about the availability of forward Sagaba Konate, who participated in pregame warmups before the last two Big 12 Tournament games against Texas Tech and Kansas.
Konate has not seen action since Dec. 8 when he scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked seven shots in a 69-59 victory over Pitt.
There was some speculation that he might be able to go against Texas Tech last Thursday night, but Huggins doesn't think he will be available for the CBI.
"We are kind of concentrating on looking at maybe getting him a redshirt," he said.
* Long-time assistant coach Ron Everhart has been assigned the Grand Canyon scout. "Ronnie was in here with our film people doing the scout last night, and then everybody else started in the morning," Huggins said. "We're all good."
* Grand Canyon has Power 5 size on its frontline with a pair of 6-10s to go along with 6-7 forward Oscar Frayer and 6-6 guard Trey Drechsel.
"We don't recruit against the WAC, we recruit against the Pac-12 teams and Big East teams," Majerle said earlier this year.
* Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook predicted Grand Canyon to win the WAC this year and named Lever its preseason WAC player of the year.
* Six Big 12 teams made this year's NCAA Tournament – Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma – while TCU and Texas are playing in this year's NIT.
TCU appeared to be in good shape for the NCAA Tournament before losing in triple-overtime to West Virginia on Feb. 26. That was probably the loss that doomed the 20-win Horned Frogs.
So Huggins, who typically does the talk-show circuit this morning before another March Madness begins this weekend, is instead getting up to speed on the Grand Canyon Antelopes of the Western Athletic Conference.
Grand Canyon will be West Virginia's opening-round opponent in the Roman College Basketball Invitational on Wednesday night at the WVU Coliseum.
"There is a lot of me that would like to (put this season to bed) but you've got to do what's best for the program," Huggins said. "We basically have a bunch of guys that have only been playing for half a year. They were playing behind a bunch of people or weren't playing at all, so I think it's a great experience for them."
Huggins' young team certainly learned some valuable lessons in Kansas City last week where they upset NCAA Tournament participants Oklahoma and Texas Tech before falling to another NCAA team, Kansas, in the Big 12 Tournament semifinals.
West Virginia (14-20) was leading the Jayhawks by seven late in the first half before Kansas finished on a 23-8 run.
"I think we just ran out of gas," Huggins said. "I think that's 100 percent what it was."
Grand Canyon, winners of 20 games this season before falling 89-57 to New Mexico State in the WAC championship game last Saturday, is making its second straight appearance in the CBI under former NBA standout Dan Majerle, now in his sixth season there.
"I know him," Huggins said. "We've been together a few times."
The Antelopes won 22 games in 2018 and 2017 after capturing 27 victories and advancing to the CollegeInsider.com Tournament quarterfinals in 2016.
Majerle has a 123-71 overall record at Grand Canyon, and has either finished second or third in the WAC all six seasons he's been there.
Five players on Majerle's roster are four-year transfers including two of his top players, Carlos Johnson (Washington) and Michael Finke (Illinois).
Johnson, a 6-3, 215-pound guard from Centralia, Illinois, leads the Antelopes in scoring with 14.6 points per game.
Finke, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound forward from Champaign, Illinois, is third in scoring with 12.2 points per game and is second in rebounding at 5.1 boards per contest.
Alessandro Lever, a 6-10, 230-pound sophomore from Bolzano, Italy, is the team's second leading scorer at 12.7 points per game while pulling down 4.2 rebounds per contest.
Four different countries and six different states crisscrossing America from Delaware to California make up Majerle's Grand Canyon roster.
The only common opponent is Texas, which defeated Grand Canyon 98-60 in Austin on Dec. 15. The Longhorns topped West Virginia twice, 61-54 in Austin on Jan. 5 and 75-53 in Morgantown a month later.
"I just think we need to play," Huggins said. "The more experience these guys get the better prepared they're going to be for next year."
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and all tickets are general admission and are priced at $10. WVU students will be admitted free with a valid student ID at the Mountaineer Gate. Students are encouraged to use their normal lower section to watch Wednesday's game.
There will be no live television but a free live stream will be available through WVUsports.com.
The Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College will carry the game on its normal network affiliates.
Briefly:
* Huggins was asked about the availability of forward Sagaba Konate, who participated in pregame warmups before the last two Big 12 Tournament games against Texas Tech and Kansas.
Konate has not seen action since Dec. 8 when he scored 16 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked seven shots in a 69-59 victory over Pitt.
There was some speculation that he might be able to go against Texas Tech last Thursday night, but Huggins doesn't think he will be available for the CBI.
"We are kind of concentrating on looking at maybe getting him a redshirt," he said.
* Long-time assistant coach Ron Everhart has been assigned the Grand Canyon scout. "Ronnie was in here with our film people doing the scout last night, and then everybody else started in the morning," Huggins said. "We're all good."
* Grand Canyon has Power 5 size on its frontline with a pair of 6-10s to go along with 6-7 forward Oscar Frayer and 6-6 guard Trey Drechsel.
"We don't recruit against the WAC, we recruit against the Pac-12 teams and Big East teams," Majerle said earlier this year.
* Blue Ribbon College Basketball Yearbook predicted Grand Canyon to win the WAC this year and named Lever its preseason WAC player of the year.
* Six Big 12 teams made this year's NCAA Tournament – Iowa State, Kansas, Texas Tech, Kansas State, Baylor and Oklahoma – while TCU and Texas are playing in this year's NIT.
TCU appeared to be in good shape for the NCAA Tournament before losing in triple-overtime to West Virginia on Feb. 26. That was probably the loss that doomed the 20-win Horned Frogs.
Players Mentioned
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