No. 7 West Virginia Searching for Their First Win in Allen Fieldhouse
The No. 7 West Virginia Mountaineers (7-1) are looking to take the early advantage in the Big 12 Conference standings as they travel to Lawrence, Kansas seeking their first win in the dreaded "Phog" Allen Fieldhouse to take on the No. 3 Kansas Jayhawks (7-1) at 9:00 pm EST on ESPN2.
The Mountaineers and Jayhawks have had one common opponent in the No. 1 Gonzaga Bulldogs, which gave both programs their only losses of the season.
Guard Ochai Agbaji (Jr. 6’5”, 210-lbs) leads the team in scoring, averaging 15.3 points per game, and in three-point percentage shooting 47.7% from behind the arc. Forward Jalen Wilson (Fr. 6’8”, 215-lbs) averages a team-leading 8.0 rebounds per game while, offensive end, working inside out averaging 14.3 ppg. Guard Christian Braun (So. 6’6”, 205-lbs) is hitting 41.0% from three-point range, averaging 10.6 ppg while 2020 Naismith Defensive Player of the year and point guard Marcus Garrett (Sr. 6’5”, 195-lbs) sets the pace on both ends of the floor.
“They’re playing smaller. It’s different than having those two bigs that they’ve generally had. They spread you out a little bit more and really try to dribble – penetrate,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.
West Virginia has played some similar offensive styles thus far, and it comes down to help-side defense, something, at times, the Mountaineers have struggled with, most notably against No. 1 Gonzaga.
“You gotta help. You put anybody out there one on one, it's hard to keep somebody from driving,” said Huggins before providing an example from a football standpoint using former West Virginia football head coach Dana Holgorsen. “It’s kind of watching Dana Holgorsen coach football, you know. They’re so spread; it’s hard to cover all of them. We haven’t done as good as a job as what we need to, but I think we’re certainly capable.”
“We have done a pretty good job of it, and then there’s time that we haven’t done that, but you can say that about our perimeter shooting. We’ve shot it extremely well; we’ve shot it very poor. We just haven’t been consistent in much of anything other than rebounding the ball. We have rebounded the ball pretty well,” explained Huggins.
West Virginia forwards Oscar Tshiebwe (So. 6’9”, 260-lbs) and Derek Culver (Jr. 6’10”, 255-lbs), again, will be tested along the perimeter but will work their size advantage on the offensive end. Tshiebwe has struggled to begin his sophomore campaign but is starting to look like his old self, with a solid average of 12 points and five rebounds in the last two games. Meanwhile, Derek Culver has been a dominant force underneath, recording three straight double doubles, five on the year, averaging 14.4 points and 10.9 rebounds on the year.
“I think our guys, Derek in particular, has done a good job of playing out on the perimeter when need be,” added Huggins. “I mean, they got to guard us too. I think we’re going to have the size advantage for the first time in, I think, about 20 years.”
The Jayhawks do have a big underneath in David McCormack, but despite only averaging 17.9 minutes per game, he contributes 9.8 points and 5.4 rebounds per game.
West Virginia starting point guard Miles “Deuce” McBride (So. 6’2”, 200-lbs) is averaging a team leading 15.0 points per game on the season. After Deuce put up his worst offensive output of six points in the Mountaineers' win over North Texas, he has combined for 38 points, seven assists, and six steals the last two games.
Taz Sherman (Sr. 6’4”, 190-lbs) has continued to be a spark off the bench on and his play on both ends of the floor in the final minutes against Iowa state Friday night propelled the Mountaineers to a 70-65 win and is third on the team in averaging 12.1 points per game.
West Virginia is 5-14 all-time versus Kansas, with the Mountaineers losing eight of the last nine meetings.
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