Culver and Tshiebwe Stand Tall

The talented duo debuted in WVU's 78-70 win over Duquesne

The 2019 West Virginia Mountaineers hosted Duquesne is an exhibition game ahead of next Friday's home season-opener against Akron. There is no hiding the size that WVU has in the front-court this year. 

At 6-foot-11, sophomore Derek Culver and 6-10 freshman Oscar Tshiebwe will be a force to be reckoned with throughout the season for opposing bigs. Besides defending the paint and rebounding, Culver and Tshiebwe both showed that they can help defend on the perimeter. The two helped immensely on the pick-and-roll throughout the game and trapped opposing guards fairly well.

One thing that Culver struggled with last season was his ability to pass out of the double team. On the first possession of the game, Culver received the ball at the high post and zipped a pass underneath to a cutting Emmitt Matthews Jr. for an easy lay-in.

On the following possession, Tshiebwe gathered his first of eight offensive rebounds and muscled his way up for a layup and a trip to the free-throw line. The former McDonald's All-American was known for his outstanding ability to collect rebounds at the high school level and was often regarded as the best rebounder in the country, Tshiebwe got to work on the boards early. He corralled five rebounds in the first seven minutes of play, and two of which led to second-chance points.

Culver spoke very highly of the freshman phenom, "He takes a lot of pressure off me. Last year they just kept doubling, doubling, doubling, and I don't necessarily think they're going to be able to do that this year. We're like a Swiss Army Knife, there's all types of things we can do."

Tshiebwe led all scorers with 14 total rebounds. He shot an efficient 7-10 from the field and finished with 17 points. "I am so blessed to play with him," commented Tshiebwe on teammate Derek Culver. "With us on the same team, nobody can stop us. Big, strong, fast... nobody can stop us if we stay focused."

Culver finished with seven points, with six of them coming in the first half. He also gathered six rebounds and dished out two assists in just the first half. Culver finished the exhibition with eight rebounds and two assists. Three of Culver's rebounds came on the offensive end of the floor.

"I feel that I've matured a lot. I feel that everything has to do with when Huggs sat me last year, it was kind of like a wake-up call. I was just sitting in my dorm room while my teammates were playing and that just really made me think. I love to hoop, so if I didn't have hoop, I don't know where I'd be. It really made me humble myself and take control of my actions."

"Derek averaged 9.9 rebounds a game [last year], and he didn't play against the bad teams. He played against all the conference opponents," Coach Huggins said, "It's such a game of repetition and we've got to get him more and more reps." 

The sophomore forward finished +16 in point differential while on the floor Friday night, and although he just had one block, he altered many of the Duquesne shot attempts in the paint. 

Although just a freshman, Oscar Tshiebwe speaks like a veteran leader. "In practice, I bring energy all the time, if we have no energy, we're not going to win the game. I would rather have a bad game and we win the game. I'm not playing for myself, I'm playing for the school, I'm playing for the state of West Virginia."