An Advanced Look At Gabe Osabuohien's Importance to WVU Basketball

The Arkansas transfer exemplifies what has changed in the Mountaineer program.

Gabe Osabuohien’s productivity for the West Virginia Mountaineers is a curious case. The Arkansas transfer thus far has played 17 minutes per game, averaging 1.5 points and 3.5 rebounds per contest in his 11 appearances since being granted eligibility from the NCAA. His offensive game is, to be generous, a work in progress. However, his impact is clear to anyone paying close attention to the team. In this emerging world of advanced statistics and analytics, it only takes a little bit of research to see how Osabuohien has epitomized the turnaround that the West Virginia basketball team has made this season.

The role that Gabe Osabuohien plays in the Mountaineer offense is one that is extremely interesting and can drive the casual fan crazy. Looking at the surface, he appears entirely incompentent with the ball in his hands, shooting a dreadful 28% from the floor and 20% at the free throw line, scoring a whopping 16 points in his 11 games played. Despite this, a look into some advanced statistics show that he plays a key role in West Virginia’s ability to score. Assist rate is an advanced statistic that estimates the percentage of scoring plays that a player records an assist on. The two leaders for the Mountaineers in this category are Jordan McCabe and Deuce McBride, the two primary point guards. Despite this being a guard dominated statistic, following McCabe and McBride closely is the one and only Osabuohien with a 19.6% assist rate. Making this even more impressive is the fact that Osabuohien ranks dead last on the team, even behind walk-on Spencer Macke, in usage rate, which measures the percentage of plays in which the player is used.

It’s clear to anybody who watches the West Virginia basketball team that Gabe Osabuohien struggles to put the ball in the basket. However, he still makes an obvious impact and that impact also displays the changes Bob Huggins has made to this Mountaineer team since last season. Going from a 2018-19 team that struggled, and often refused, to do the little things, players like Osabuohien are the ones who show what it takes for teams to have the success that Mountaineer fans expect. In addition to the subtle offensive contributions he brings, the true factor is Gabe’s value comes on the defensive end of the floor.

Defensive box plus/minus is an analytical statistic that takes into account the entire impact that a player has per 100 defensive possessions. West Virginia’s leader in this category is who else but Gabe Osabuohien. Not only is his 9.2 DBPM the highest on the current team, it is pushing the record books at WVU, tying for second place in school history since that statistic began being tracked in 2010. Even beyond this, if he had enough games played to qualify for the leaderboard, Osabuohien would rank seventh nationally in DBPM, ahead of standouts like Oklahoma State shot blocker Yor Anei. In addition to his overall defensive prowess, Osabuohien has quite the knack for causing havoc for opposing teams. The emerging identity of this West Virginia team is one of outstanding half court defense that forces the opponent to make mistakes. Once again, Osabuohien is the epitome of this movement. Leading the team in steal rate, taking the ball away on 3.9% of opponents’ possessions, Osabuohien continues to do everything this team needs him to, in addition to bringing a workman-like attitude that changes the mindset of this team every time he touches the floor.

Gabe Osabuohien shows exactly what this team is doing differently since last season. DBPM is by no means an all-encompassing statistic but does do a good job of putting a team’s effort and quality on the defensive end into a measurable number. Looking at this current season against the last, the defensive distance is immense. The entire 2019-20 team, with the exception of Spencer Macke who has only played six minutes, rate as above average defenders based on DBPM. In comparison, the 2018-19 team had seven below average defenders with the highest rated player, excluding the limited Sagaba Konate, being Derek Culver at 2.4.

As the West Virginia basketball team continues to improve, it becomes clearer what kind of impact that Gabe Osabuohien makes on the court that does not show up on the stat sheet. His facilitating, defense, and attitude all show how important he is to this team. Why else do you think his eligibility would get this kind of reaction from his teammates?