Mountaineers rebound, in more ways than one

After being beaten on the glass in consecutive games, including by 20 to Baylor – West Virginia got back to the basics.

The message from head coach Bob Huggins was a clear one.

“Coach gave us a statistic that said most of the games when we outrebound teams we usually win,” senior guard Tarik Phillip said. “So we wanted to go out and dominate the glass.”

In fact, in each of the West Virginia losses they have either been outrebounded or held a small margin.

Rebounding is one of the key aspects to the success that West Virginia has experienced under Huggins and the formula is a simple one. The more rebounds, creates more shot opportunities which means more chances to put the ball in the basket. It’s one that’s worked to perfection over the years.

The Mountaineers won the rebounding edge in the first meeting against Iowa State but only at a plus three against a team that has struggled in that department. Coming into the rematch, that had to change especially on the heels of the disparity from the game before.

So rebounding was the emphasis. And the final results?

West Virginia beat the Cyclones on the boards 48-29, while dominating the second chance point department 23-8 in the process as the Mountaineers clinched the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 tournament. The Mountaineers also controlled the paint outscoring Iowa State 40-10 there.

It was a vintage performance.

“I thought our effort was better. You know, we try to emphasize it more,” Huggins said.

Emphasis is one thing, but effort on the glass is another and it was easier to get motivated on the heels of what happened against the Bears when the Mountaineers let a late lead slip through their hands.

“I thought it was our loss against Baylor. We got killed on the glass,” junior guard Jevon Carter said.

The production came not only from the big men on the roster but across the board as 26 of those boards came from four guards on the team. Carter finished with eight, Phillip with eight and junior guard Daxter Miles had seven including six on the offensive end of things.

As a team, West Virginia recorded 18 offensive rebounds to create more scoring opportunities.

“We wanted it more on the glass. We have to try to get rebounds to get more possessions,” Miles said.

West Virginia swept the season series with the Cyclones after the 87-76 win and now will head to Kansas City for the Big 12 Conference Tournament looking to do what it couldn’t do a year ago.

Now with the message received loud and clear, the blueprint has been set for this team to have success moving forward and that starts with securing the basketball. And this Mountaineers team has already shown the ability to rebound in more ways than one.