Effort, intensity, consistency needed at all times

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins wanted to see his team put together a complete game. Well, against New Hampshire he got that and some.

The Mountaineers hounded the Wildcats into 34 turnovers as the pressure proved wildly effective to the delight of the head man after he openly challenged his team for not playing with enough effort through the first two games to finish both on a strong note.

The message got across as the Mountaineers were highly energized from start to finish and was even apparent in the waning moments of the game as West Virginia emptied its bench onto the floor.

“It was good to see the press work for 40-minutes. I feel like even the last two minutes it was still hard to get the ball over half court,” senior guard Teyvon Myers said. “Today was our first complete game.”

After two consecutive lackadaisical performances, Huggins took the team through a rigorous film session and made practice difficult to help jump start the group. The overall energy level on the floor was the main difference in the Mountaineers dominating performance.

The instruction just didn’t come from Huggins either, it was also a case of the upperclassmen and leaders on the roster taking charge and letting the rest of the team know that playing the full 40-minutes is paramount for success moving forward.

“We were flying around. Our effort was there and we were coming up with steals and deflections,” sophomore forward Esa Ahmad said. “We feed off that.”

And that was without the services of junior guard Daxter Miles who remains out with an illness as well as both redshirt junior Elijah Macon and senior Brandon Watkins who both did not play due to disciplinary reasons. Huggins expects that all the two forwards will be back Thursday while the status for Miles remains up in the air although he was optimistic he would return against Illinois.

The Illini will present the biggest challenge of the season to date for the Mountaineers after breezing through the first three games and the high-major match up will pit a long, skilled Illinois basketball team that excels with their length on both ends of the floor.

West Virginia started working on preparation for Illinois Monday and that will continue today before departing for the New York. From there, the team will get another practice on Wednesday before the game tips off Thursday in the NIT Preseason Tipoff.

“They’re really big and they can score. They can shoot it and they can create shots. They play 2-3 zone and use their length,” Huggins said.

And for the Mountaineers it will be key to maintain their consistency with their effort on both ends.

“I feel like the team is in a good spot if we have the same energy level that we did today,” Myers said.