Clean bill of health and shots now falling for WVU, but work remains
Knock on wood, but it appears the flu scare is indeed in the past for West Virginia.
“I think we’re good. Going to take them a little while to get their wind but other than that good,” head coach Bob Huggins said. “No new cases.”
That’s an obvious sigh of relief. The Mountaineers got back to practice following the 75-73 road win over Oklahoma Monday with a light day Wednesday followed by a harder session Thursday although it wasn’t quite as difficult as the head man would have preferred.
“They were supposed to go a lot harder,” he said.
The Mountaineers are back into the thick of things in the Big 12 Conference race, trailing both Texas Tech and Kansas in the loss column by a game.
But how many losses does West Virginia have to play with down the back end of the schedule? How many are going to win this league?
While Huggins isn’t a physic, he does believe that Texas Tech is playing good basketball right now and there is a number that he would be surprised to see the loss total exceed.
“I don’t think it’s more than five,” he said.
Oklahoma State travels to Morgantown losers of five of their last seven but those two victories have come over Oklahoma and then on the road against Kansas. The Cowboys have taken some time to gel together but have proven they can upend anybody on the schedule.
“I think they’re good, they’re talented,” Huggins said.
After defeating Kansas, Oklahoma State fell at home against Baylor 67-56 but that in large part is just a product of how deep and competitive the Big 12 is as a whole, according to Huggins.
“I don’t think anybody feels sorry for us having five one-day preps,” he added.
Huggins has constantly harped on the fact that the Mountaineers need to make shots and that much is obvious. Considering this West Virginia team has taken 40-percent of their shots from three-point range, the highest mark of any team under Huggins, in large part due to the personnel.
The Mountaineers are equipped with several big men that can step out and shoot the ball and until the last eight to ten games, had no real presence inside until the emergence of sophomore Sagaba Konate. But getting him the ball has proven to be a challenge due to the inability to effectively pass it.
Even when Konate has flashed open in the lane with a guy sealed, the pass is more time than not delivered on time preventing him from catching the ball in the paint. Then things get too extended and spacing because an issue as well as the overall timing of it all.
It’s a problem that has been relatively new to Huggins and his teams as he has effectively been able to get the ball entered into the post in almost all previous stops. But as long as West Virginia wins games, he isn’t overly concerned about the number of three-point attempts.
“I just want to do whatever it takes to win,” he said.
Making those shots also translates on the defensive end preventing teams from getting run outs or easy looks, but also when it comes to morale by increasing it and making players more energetic.
“Everything is better when you make shots,” he added.
Junior Esa Ahmad has started to come around after a pair of scoreless games, he has scored 39 points in the three games since on 18-23 from the field to go along with 16 rebounds. The adjustment period after coming back from missing the first 16 games of the season has been one that Huggins underestimated in regards to how he would fit in with the team and understand his role.
While he understands the game, Ahmad’s acclimation was only made more difficult due to outside pressures that quite frankly are hard to control or change. But it comes down to repetition and the junior is working his way through it both on the court and off of it.
“It was just a matter of feeling comfortable. It’s a lot harder than I thought it would be for him,” he said.
West Virginia is set to host Oklahoma State at noon.
