Having to replace two starters is easier said than done — even more so when the two are a team’s most valuable players.
West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins finds himself in that situation as he looks to find replacements for point guard Miles McBride and center Derek Culver, the Mountaineers’ most productive players from last season.
The two rank first and second, respectively, in scoring, while McBride led the team in assists while Culver led the way with rebounds.
Isaiah Cottrell seems like the likely fit for the Mountaineers to replace Culver, but the competition to replace McBride’s production appears to still be in progress. Under consideration is senior Kedrian Johnson and fifth-year Malik Curry, who transferred to WVU prior to this season.
Playing at Old Dominion last season, Curry led the Monarchs in scoring (15.7 points per game) and assists (71 in 20 games). But, given the opportunity for an additional year, he wanted to see if he could compete at a higher level.
Now at WVU, he’s had to adjust to better competition, among other things.
“I knew it was going to be bigger guys in the paint for sure,” Curry said, “so my pullup game — I just added that to my game, got better at that so I don’t have to get all the way into the paint here. I know I can do it if I want to draw fouls, get in the paint. Pulling up, that’s something that I needed to add to my game, especially at this level. At ODU, I was getting to the basket at will. That was my biggest transition so far.”
Curry played 17 minutes off the bench in Friday’s exhibition against Akron, tallying five points, four assists and three steals. Johnson received the start, scoring zero points, but collected three rebounds, two assists and one steal in 19 minutes.
Johnson enters the season with something Curry lacks: experience in the WVU system. Sitting behind McBride, he was able to learn by watching — similar to how McBride learned from Jordan McCabe in 2019.
“Being able to sit back last year and actually watch Deuce put in the work and watch what he does,” Johnson said, “that actually built my confidence and he was actually kind of a role model to me. He helped me throughout the season.”
Johnson averaged 7.5 minutes per game last season, scoring only 33 points in 26 games. But he says that having that year to observe has him much more up to speed.
“Due to last year, I’d pretty much say that I’m already adjusted,” Johnson said. “It just comes down to doing what I know, and doing what I know I’m capable of doing, and that’s pretty much it.”
Nov. 9’s regular-season opener against Oakland will be the next time to have a look at the rotations Huggins opts for, but the veteran coach has not tipped his hand on whether or not one is ahead of the other. Given that the two played about equal minutes on Friday, it appears as if the competition is still neck and neck.
----------
• Talk about it with West Virginia fans on The Blue Lot.
• SUBSCRIBE today to stay up on the latest on Mountaineer sports and recruiting.
• Get all of our WVU videos on YouTube by subscribing to the WVSports.com Channel
• Follow us on Twitter: @WVSportsDotCom, @rivalskeenan, @JaredSerre
•Like us on Facebook
