Miles, WVU exhibit toughness despite flu outbreak
A flu outbreak couldn’t stop the Mountaineers from ending their three-game skid Saturday afternoon.
With at least five players affected with this sickness, West Virginia overcame this sickness and earned a much-needed win Saturday against Kansas State. It wasn’t so much about the Mountaineers winning, but rather how they did it.
All five players who had been sick throughout the week made significant contributions during the win. Among those who were affected with the flu were sophomores Lamont West, James “Beetle” Bolden, Chase Harler, Wesley Harris and senior Daxter Miles Jr. Overall these five players played a combined 93 minutes during Saturday’s win.
“I don’t know,” Huggins said when asked how the team overcame the flu. “I really was concerned about not having enough energy to play, to press.”
On Friday, Huggins was concerned about the team’s numbers and believed that he wouldn’t have at least 10 players for practice prior to the Kansas State game.
“We weren’t playing downhill. We were playing lateral. Honestly, I had so many guys sick that we couldn’t really practice,” Huggins said. “It was a two-day prep and we didn’t go live at any point in time for two days.”
However, this didn’t seem to affect West Virginia in its rout of Kansas State.
The Mountaineers had numbers and turned up the intensity on both ends of the floor against the Wildcats, forcing more turnovers (15) than made shots by Kansas State (14). The team also shot 55 percent from the floor and ended the game on a 20-4 run.
Despite the having flu and going to the hospital, Bolden was adamant about playing on Saturday and ended up making his first-career start, scoring 13 points off the bench on 4-of-6 shooting.
“Beetle came in yesterday pretty much right out of the hospital and said, ‘Coach, I can go,’” Huggins said. “I thought we needed another ball handler.”
West also battled sickness and a shooting slump coming into the Saturday’s contest, but scored eight points on 2-of-3 shooting and is getting back on track.
Harler didn’t score during the five minutes he was on the court, but Harris remained in the starting lineup and scored 10 points, going 5-of-5 from the free throw line.
“It’s a matter of having confidence,” Huggins said about West. “We need to get (West), get (Wesley Harris), Chase (Harler), and those guys back, everybody, making shots,” Huggins said. “Then, we’re pretty good again.”
Perhaps the most significant contribution out of the five came from Miles.
Miles, who has been sick all week and didn’t make the trip to Ames, Iowa, was seen throwing up in a trash can near the Kansas State bench prior to the game, but the senior rose to the occasion despite not practicing, playing 25 minutes and scoring seven points to go along with four assists, two rebounds and one steal.
He also played a major role in the team’s defensive effort throughout the course of the game, which included a new installment.
“I didn’t let him do anything. I just told him to sit there and watch,” Huggins said. “I thought he played the defense pretty well and he just sat there and watched it.”
For Miles, sitting out for the second straight game wasn’t an option.
“I feel like the team needed some extra boost,” Miles said. “I didn’t want to sit this one out, so I just pushed myself.”
According to Huggins, Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration will be cleaning the basketball facilities in an effort to prevent the sickness from spreading even further, but in the meantime, a one-day turnaround and plane ride to Oklahoma awaits West Virginia.
The Mountaineers haven’t fared well in one-day turnarounds this season while traveling and Huggins’ concerns lie within the team’s ability to bring the same energy against the Sooners as it did against Kansas State.
“I’m worried about having energy on Monday,” Huggins said. “When you got guys that are laying there getting IVs, to try and get them back moving, it’s a concern.”
West Virginia displayed its toughness against the Wildcats and improved upon Wednesday’s loss to Iowa State. Whether or not the Mountaineers can bring the same energy and overcome their sicknesses once again remains to be seen.
“We had no energy whatsoever,” Huggins said regarding the Iowa State game. “If we come out Monday with no energy, you’ll know it really affected us.”
