Huggins Talks Win over Nicholls State
Morgantown, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (9-1) pulled away from Nicholls State (6-5) near the midway point of the second half, pounding the rock down into their workhorses Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver, opening up the offense and getting the comfortable 83-57 win.
West Virginia’s poor shooting was telling from the outset. The Mountaineers missed three layups (one was blocked), a wide-open three, and three turnovers before former Mountaineer D’Angelo Hunter buried a three to give Nicholls State a 5-2 advantage just inside the first three minutes of the game.
The Mountaineers had success Thursday night spreading the floor and running some motion offense. Despite getting some good looks around the rim early, Nicholls State tightened up their defense and denied the pass to the cutters. West Virginia did work the ball around the outside and got open looks from behind the arc, but they couldn’t capitalize going 1-6 from three-point range and just 5-16 from the field midway through the second half as the Mountaineers trailed 14-12.
Taz Sherman, who is starting to find his groove, and Deuce McBride checked into the game and ignited a 9-0 run. Sean McNeil then drilled a three to give West Virginia an eight-point lead with 6:42 left in the first half.
“I think, with all of them, it takes a while to understand how hard you have to play at this level,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “College basketball - particularly college at the level that we play at here - you really have to work. I keep trying to explain to our guys that you can’t have a loose end. You can’t have a guy who every time is a pressure release. So, you have four guys out there trying to deny the ball, trying to do a great job, and one guy is standing in the lane letting his man catch it every time and relieve pressure. They go and ball screen, and we don’t have any help. We have to get that fixed.”
Outside of Sherman going 3-3 from the floor, including a three, the Mountaineers were unable to build on their lead due to poor shooting from the outside. They finished the half at 38.2% (13-34) from the field and 25% (4-16) from behind the arc as they held onto an eight-point lead.
Nicholls State came out of halftime aggressive, putting together a 12-4 run to tie the game at 42 at the 16:43 mark of the second half.
The West Virginia frontcourt of Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe controlled the boards in the first half and most of their production came from second-chance points. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said Thursday night after the win over Austin Peay that the guards needed to look down into Derek and Oscar.
Feeding the bigs was exactly what they did in the second half. It all started with Culver scoring six of the Mountaineers first eight points, including back-to-back strong moves in the paint to give West Virginia a four-point lead. Culver finished the afternoon with 16 points and 16 rebounds.
“Derek decided that he was going to play,” said Huggins. “They did a good job. They were physical, and I think they probably watched the St. John’s tape and figured if St. John’s could get away with it, they could get away with it. When Derek gets tired of getting fouled, he just separates people. He’s the difference. Having somebody like Sean who can make shots really helps us as well. Taz is starting to be the player that we thought we recruited. I thought (Sophomore guard Brandon Knapper) Knapp played well. Deuce made every shot in the walkthrough we had this morning. He couldn’t make one in the game, and then made some big plays on the run. It was a good team win.”
Then, Oscar Tshiebwe (15 points, 11 rebounds) got in the mix getting behind the defender in the low post for easy buckets as both Oscar and Derek finished the game with a double-double for the first time this season.
The back-to-back buckets by Culver made way for a 12-2 run with Deuce attacking the basket while avoiding a charge with a euro step. Sean McNeil netted a three from the left-wing, giving the Mountaineers a double-digit lead with just over 12 minutes to play in the game.
Nicholls State never got into a rhythm offensively against a stingy West Virginia defense that’s held all but two opponents (Northern Iowa, Rhode Island) to under 40% from the field. This trend continued against the Colonels holding them to 31.4% (11-35) from the floor and 1-15 (6.7%) from three-point range in the second half.
As time winded down and the lead was insurmountable, true freshman Spencer Macke checked into the game, making a consecutive appearance. Then, a technical foul was committed by Nicholls State’s season-leading scorer Dexter McClanahan out of frustration over being held to seven points on the day.
Huggins, in what he called “one of my better moves,” sent Macke to the free-throw line. He obliged his teammates and the fans that have been calling his name the past two games, making both free throws for his first points as a Mountaineer.
West Virginia is off till next Saturday as they travel to take on the Youngstown State Penguins at 1:00 pm.
