Konate unlike anybody Villanova has faced this season
BOSTON – Villanova can shoot the ball. That’s been well documented to this point.
But the Wildcats can get to the basket as well. They pass the ball and create angles to get the ball at the rim or kick it to open shooters spaced across the floor with their five-out style of basketball.
“They do a great job of getting the ball to the guy most open. It's not sometimes. It's not the guy that's open sometimes. It's the guy that's most open,” head coach Bob Huggins said.
With that will come some meetings in the paint with West Virginia big man Sagaba Konate. The sophomore, who is admittedly “fine,” after tweaking his knee in practice in San Diego understands that while he won’t have a traditional post-player to defend his role is not any less important.
The nation’s leading remaining shot blocker left in the tournament, Konate will be tasked to challenge Villanova players that come into his space either on the press break or half court.
“It’s great to have a guy like him back there that can block shot, change shots,” Huggins said. “It makes people pull up and shoot jump shots a lot,” Huggins said.
West Virginia doesn’t plan to change any of the basic core of what they will do in this game which means that Konate will be tasked to handle his role. A role that Villanova hasn’t seen a lot of this year throughout the course of their 36 game schedule.
“I just don’t think we’ve faced anybody like that during the season,” coach Jay Wright said.
But that doesn’t mean that Villanova plans to change what they do as well as Wright has instructed his outfit not to be afraid to attack the basket and make good decisions.
Part of that is overcoming a fear of failure given the fact that Konate has made a highlight reel of his block attempts throughout the course of the season when players have attempted to do that.
“So sometimes you’re going to go, you’re going to make the right decision and you might catch a foul on them. Sometimes you’re going to go and he might get you,” Wright said.
One area that’s allowed Konate to change games with his ability to not only block shots, but keep them in bounds in order to create offensive opportunities for West Virginia is the shear fact that he’s been able to avoid foul trouble and stay on the floor. That will be essential against Villanova as well.
“Sometimes they drive it so I just have to stay out of foul trouble and we have to guard,” Konate said.
That also could create some interesting match ups on the other end as Konate could be matched up with Villanova freshman Omari Spellman, who has shown the ability to hit the three at a 44-percent clip. It’s nothing he hasn’t seen as West Virginia just played a team that was five-out in Marshall.
But regardless Konate understands his role is to create opportunities on the block by scoring and rebounding while attempting to alter things on the defensive end.
“It’s a physical game so we have to do what we do,” he said.
Which means being aggressive, yet smart and giving the Mountaineers the minutes that they need from the Mali big man when he is called upon.
“That’s what we do. We always rebound the ball and guard,” he said.
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