Malik Curry is Ready for More
Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil have carried the Mountaineers offensively all season long. There would be some contributions here and there from a few other players, but there hasn't been a third scorer step up and make shots consistently enough to go along with the one-two punch of Sherman and McNeil.
As bad as things got in Saturday's loss to Kansas, West Virginia did have one bright spot - Malik Curry. He finished the game with a season-high 23 points on 6-13 shooting from the floor while knocking down all eleven of his free throw attempts. Sure, he did pick up half of his points from the charity stripe, but his willingness to attack the basket possession after possession gave Kansas fits defensively. He's not the type of guard who is going to shoot for a high percentage from three, but he can do a lot of damage by penetrating and pitching the ball out if he doesn't get the look he wants on the drive.
Curry, to this point, has been up and down. He's had some good moments, but you can tell he's still learning the system and adjusting to playing Big 12 basketball. When the Mountaineers have nights where Sherman and McNeil are nowhere to be found, Huggins needs someone to elevate their game to give them a chance to win. Curry can be that guy.
"I felt confident as soon as I got in the game," Curry said in his postgame press conference. "It was a big game, a big stage. I don't ever go into a game thinking I'm going to play good or play bad. I just want to go out there and provide for the team, and today, I got it going, which was a great feeling. I just want to go out and help this team win."
For the Mountaineers to win games and be a legitimate threat in the Big 12, they can't be reliant upon Sherman and McNeil. They've been able to do so through the first half of the schedule but as WVU goes through this gauntlet of games, the play of Curry, Jalen Bridges, and Isaiah Cottrell is going to be a big part of how often they end up in the win column.
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