Saturday, January 25
Morgantown, W.Va.
Noon
West Virginia University
vs
Missouri
Photo by: All Pro Photography/Dale Sparks
United Bank Playbook – Missouri Preview
January 24, 2020 02:20 PM | Men's Basketball
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - Do you like anomalies? Well, here is sort of a basketball anomaly for you to consider.
West Virginia scored a season-high 97 points in its most recent victory over Texas here at the WVU Coliseum on Monday night and its leading scorer had just 13 points.
How often does that happen?
Twelve players got into the scoring column in the 38-point victory against the Longhorns and nine had at least seven points.
Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe is the team's leading scorer, averaging 11.7 points per game, but he's had some games this year when he's gotten just four or five, or none in the victory against Ohio State.
Sophomore Derek Culver, averaging a point per game less than Tshiebwe, has had some games like that, too. There was a stretch of four straight games when he failed to reach double figures before producing 38 points in his last three outings against TCU, Kansas State and Texas.
Freshman Deuce McBride was emerging as a potential go-to player with a streak of eight games in double figures, including 21 in a big win against Ohio State and a season-high 22 in a recent home win over Texas Tech, but his double-figure scoring flurry came to an end against Texas.
McBride also had some games earlier this season when he either failed to score or registered just a basket or two.
Senior guard Jermaine Haley began the season by scoring double digits in four of his first five games before cooling off in December. He has since picked things up a little bit with double-figure scoring performances in three out of his last four games.
Sophomore forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. is another guy who started the season like gangbusters with 30 points in his first two games, and then had a stretch of games in late November to early December when he reached double figures in four out of five games.
However, he hit a tough stretch before rebounding recently with an eight-point performance against the Longhorns on Monday night.
Sean McNeil, Chase Harler, Brandon Knapper and Taz Sherman have had their moments scoring the basketball, too, and junior Gabe Osabuohien is starting to emerge as an offensive threat, tallying 19 points in his last two games.
Last Saturday, Osabuohien became the 11th different Mountaineer player to have at least one double-figure scoring game this year in the loss at Kansas State.
That's 11 of the 12 guys who see the majority of the court time scoring double figures and the 12th, senior Logan Routt, nearly did it the other night when he finished with nine against the Longhorns.
Of course, this speaks well to the tremendous depth the Mountaineers are enjoying this year, but it also comes with some hazards.
Who can Bob Huggins count on for points?
He knew he could bank on 17 a night from Jevon Carter in 2018, or 14 a game from Juwan Staten in 2015, or 20 from Kevin Jones in 2012 or 17 from Da'Sean Butler in 2010.
In those instances, when he needed somebody to make a shot, he had a pretty good idea where to go.
Who does he go to with this group? It's almost like having all five lines on your desk phone flashing and you're not sure which call is for you. Which line do you pick up? That's sort of how Huggins is operating out there right now when he's calling offensive sets during timeouts.
"It's easier when you know where they're coming from," Huggins admitted Friday morning. "You know what to run for whom. The way it is now, from game-to-game I have absolutely no idea who is going to make shots and who's not.
"Knap went on a roll when he was really making shots and the last two or three practices he hasn't made a shot, and we all know he's fully capable. As is Taz, as is Sean and a whole bunch of those guys. I'd rather know where they're coming from," he said.
Overall, Huggins still doesn't believe his young team has scratched the surface of what it is capable of doing offensively, despite its recent scoring outbursts against TCU and Texas.
"We haven't shot the ball. You go recruit guys you think can really make shots - and who really made shots where they were - and then they come in and they don't make shots. A lot of it is just confidence and thinking too much," he explained.
"Am I where I'm supposed to be? Am I supposed to shoot this? Am I supposed to pass it? What am I supposed to do? Until they get comfortable … I mean, look at the difference in Chase Harler. Chase was that way and now when Chase is open he shoots it and that's where we've got to get with the first-year guys."
But until that moment arrives, Huggins is going to have to rely on the guy with the hot hand - either that or draw up something close to the rim to Tshiebwe or Culver.
"Yeah, unless they get fouled," Huggins pointed out.
There you go.
Briefly:
* Saturday's game at the Coliseum against Missouri is part of the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, now in its seventh year. The Mountaineers are just 1-5 in these challenge games with the SEC because of some fairly tough matchups. WVU lost at No. 1 Tennessee last year, dropped a close decision to Kentucky at the Coliseum in 2018, lost on the road at Florida in 2016 and also lost at Missouri in 2014.
Tomorrow's game against the Tigers will tip off at noon and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Clay Matvick and Tim McCormick).
* Missouri brings a 9-9 overall record into Saturday's game, but the Tigers have lost three SEC games in a row including Wednesday night's home loss to Texas A&M. The Tigers nearly erased a nine-point deficit in a span of 1:20, but couldn't miss a free throw when they needed to in the game's final two seconds.
Missouri, which set an NCAA record by making 53 straight free throws over a two-game span, saw the streak end late in the game when the Tigers had a chance to tie the score. Then, when they needed a missed free throw trailing the Aggies by two, guard Dru Smith banked one in when he was trying to miss.
Texas A&M pulled off a 66-64 victory to pin a third straight SEC defeat on coach Cuonzo Martin's Tigers. Missouri's last win was in Gainesville, Florida, when they blew out Florida 91-75 back on Jan. 11.
The Tigers shot a sizzling 61.5 percent against Florida, including 12-of-19 from 3. Missouri was 9-of-35 from 3 against Texas A&M and have connected on just 12 of its last 80 from behind the arc during its three-game losing streak.
Smith is Missouri's leading scorer averaging 12.1 points per game.
* Bob Huggins is now a victory shy of tying Adolph Rupp for seventh place on the NCAA all-time wins list. The West Virginia coach got career win No. 875 on Monday night against Texas.
* West Virginia and Missouri will meet for the fifth time on the hardwood and the first time since 2017 when the two played in the championship game of the AdvoCare Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. WVU rallied from 16 points down with 7:58 to go to defeat the Tigers 83-79. WVU's other win against Mizzou occurred in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, New York, during the Mountaineers' run to the Final Four.
Huggins has faced the Tigers five times, winning four. He was 2-0 against Missouri when he coached one season at Kansas State in 2007.
West Virginia scored a season-high 97 points in its most recent victory over Texas here at the WVU Coliseum on Monday night and its leading scorer had just 13 points.
How often does that happen?
Twelve players got into the scoring column in the 38-point victory against the Longhorns and nine had at least seven points.
Freshman Oscar Tshiebwe is the team's leading scorer, averaging 11.7 points per game, but he's had some games this year when he's gotten just four or five, or none in the victory against Ohio State.
Sophomore Derek Culver, averaging a point per game less than Tshiebwe, has had some games like that, too. There was a stretch of four straight games when he failed to reach double figures before producing 38 points in his last three outings against TCU, Kansas State and Texas.
Freshman Deuce McBride was emerging as a potential go-to player with a streak of eight games in double figures, including 21 in a big win against Ohio State and a season-high 22 in a recent home win over Texas Tech, but his double-figure scoring flurry came to an end against Texas.
McBride also had some games earlier this season when he either failed to score or registered just a basket or two.
Senior guard Jermaine Haley began the season by scoring double digits in four of his first five games before cooling off in December. He has since picked things up a little bit with double-figure scoring performances in three out of his last four games.
Sophomore forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. is another guy who started the season like gangbusters with 30 points in his first two games, and then had a stretch of games in late November to early December when he reached double figures in four out of five games.
However, he hit a tough stretch before rebounding recently with an eight-point performance against the Longhorns on Monday night.
Sean McNeil, Chase Harler, Brandon Knapper and Taz Sherman have had their moments scoring the basketball, too, and junior Gabe Osabuohien is starting to emerge as an offensive threat, tallying 19 points in his last two games.
Last Saturday, Osabuohien became the 11th different Mountaineer player to have at least one double-figure scoring game this year in the loss at Kansas State.
That's 11 of the 12 guys who see the majority of the court time scoring double figures and the 12th, senior Logan Routt, nearly did it the other night when he finished with nine against the Longhorns.
Of course, this speaks well to the tremendous depth the Mountaineers are enjoying this year, but it also comes with some hazards.
Who can Bob Huggins count on for points?
He knew he could bank on 17 a night from Jevon Carter in 2018, or 14 a game from Juwan Staten in 2015, or 20 from Kevin Jones in 2012 or 17 from Da'Sean Butler in 2010.
In those instances, when he needed somebody to make a shot, he had a pretty good idea where to go.
Who does he go to with this group? It's almost like having all five lines on your desk phone flashing and you're not sure which call is for you. Which line do you pick up? That's sort of how Huggins is operating out there right now when he's calling offensive sets during timeouts.
"It's easier when you know where they're coming from," Huggins admitted Friday morning. "You know what to run for whom. The way it is now, from game-to-game I have absolutely no idea who is going to make shots and who's not.
"Knap went on a roll when he was really making shots and the last two or three practices he hasn't made a shot, and we all know he's fully capable. As is Taz, as is Sean and a whole bunch of those guys. I'd rather know where they're coming from," he said.
Overall, Huggins still doesn't believe his young team has scratched the surface of what it is capable of doing offensively, despite its recent scoring outbursts against TCU and Texas.
"We haven't shot the ball. You go recruit guys you think can really make shots - and who really made shots where they were - and then they come in and they don't make shots. A lot of it is just confidence and thinking too much," he explained.
"Am I where I'm supposed to be? Am I supposed to shoot this? Am I supposed to pass it? What am I supposed to do? Until they get comfortable … I mean, look at the difference in Chase Harler. Chase was that way and now when Chase is open he shoots it and that's where we've got to get with the first-year guys."
But until that moment arrives, Huggins is going to have to rely on the guy with the hot hand - either that or draw up something close to the rim to Tshiebwe or Culver.
"Yeah, unless they get fouled," Huggins pointed out.
There you go.
Briefly:
* Saturday's game at the Coliseum against Missouri is part of the annual Big 12/SEC Challenge, now in its seventh year. The Mountaineers are just 1-5 in these challenge games with the SEC because of some fairly tough matchups. WVU lost at No. 1 Tennessee last year, dropped a close decision to Kentucky at the Coliseum in 2018, lost on the road at Florida in 2016 and also lost at Missouri in 2014.
Tomorrow's game against the Tigers will tip off at noon and will be televised nationally on ESPN (Clay Matvick and Tim McCormick).
* Missouri brings a 9-9 overall record into Saturday's game, but the Tigers have lost three SEC games in a row including Wednesday night's home loss to Texas A&M. The Tigers nearly erased a nine-point deficit in a span of 1:20, but couldn't miss a free throw when they needed to in the game's final two seconds.
Missouri, which set an NCAA record by making 53 straight free throws over a two-game span, saw the streak end late in the game when the Tigers had a chance to tie the score. Then, when they needed a missed free throw trailing the Aggies by two, guard Dru Smith banked one in when he was trying to miss.
Texas A&M pulled off a 66-64 victory to pin a third straight SEC defeat on coach Cuonzo Martin's Tigers. Missouri's last win was in Gainesville, Florida, when they blew out Florida 91-75 back on Jan. 11.
The Tigers shot a sizzling 61.5 percent against Florida, including 12-of-19 from 3. Missouri was 9-of-35 from 3 against Texas A&M and have connected on just 12 of its last 80 from behind the arc during its three-game losing streak.
Smith is Missouri's leading scorer averaging 12.1 points per game.
* Bob Huggins is now a victory shy of tying Adolph Rupp for seventh place on the NCAA all-time wins list. The West Virginia coach got career win No. 875 on Monday night against Texas.
* West Virginia and Missouri will meet for the fifth time on the hardwood and the first time since 2017 when the two played in the championship game of the AdvoCare Invitational in Lake Buena Vista, Florida. WVU rallied from 16 points down with 7:58 to go to defeat the Tigers 83-79. WVU's other win against Mizzou occurred in the second round of the 2010 NCAA Tournament in Buffalo, New York, during the Mountaineers' run to the Final Four.
Huggins has faced the Tigers five times, winning four. He was 2-0 against Missouri when he coached one season at Kansas State in 2007.
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