Ahmad puts in the work, gets the results

The game of basketball is a lot like anything else in life in that you get out of it what you put into it.

Mired in a three-game slump, sophomore Esa Ahmad took the often-cited advice of his head coach and got back in the gym. That meant arriving to practice early to get up shots and study film, then staying after it was over to do the same. Practice makes perfect and Ahmad had to find that out the hard way.

“He kind of rededicated himself to the game,” Huggins said.

Against No. 1 Kansas, West Virginia set up a play for Ahmad to open the game and from there he wouldn’t look back scoring the first eight points of the game and finishing with a career high 27.

Over his previous three games, Ahmad had scored only 13 points but he was able to surpass that at halftime as the athletic wing played with an aggression he hasn’t shown in the past at any point of his career.

This was the Ahmad that was a highly publicized recruit.

This is the Ahmad that the Mountaineers thought they had coming into the season as a 6-foot-8 matchup nightmare on the wing.

This Ahmad was attacking.

And this Ahmad was doing it against Kansas on the biggest stage.

“I haven’t been aggressive. I’ve been passive and not really putting pressure on the defense,” he said. “I did that. I took it on myself to do that.”

Ahmad made his approach known early in the game with his second basket a thunderous dunk that not only ignited the sold out crowd but set the tone of for the rest of the game. The Ohio native was effective both inside and out taking a career high 17-shots, as he continued to take what the defense gave him.

“I think I’m supposed to do that. I haven’t done that in a minute but it felt good,” Ahmad said. “I haven’t been aggressive so I tried to get aggressive out of the gate.”

And without Ahmad playing at that level, West Virginia doesn’t beat the Jayhawks.

“We didn’t guard him,” Kansas head coach Bill Self said.

The sophomore also credited his coaches and teammates for keeping him afloat during the midst of his slump. He was admittedly down on himself at times over the past week, but they continued to support him and help him realize that a slump doesn’t last forever.

One of those players was redshirt junior Elijah Macon and he tried to reinforce to him that he is a problem for teams to deal with given his size and overall skill set.

“I told him you’re going to get back in the flow. You’re not going to have bad games for the rest of the year,” Macon said. “I told him to keep his head up because us Ohio guys have to stay together.”

But doing it one game is one thing. Being consistent is what will take Ahmad, and possibly this West Virginia team, to the next level. That will come back to how much Ahmad wants it and how much time he willing to put into accomplishing that.

But if this past week is any indication, that shouldn’t be an issue moving forward.

“I have to stay in the gym and listen to coach. It takes hard work,” Ahmad said.

You get out what you put in.