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Over the past couple seasons, West Virginia’s strength has been in its numbers.
While other teams have used shorter rotations, the Mountaineers had enough depth that they could send wave after wave of full court pressure at the opposition while still being able to give their own players a breather. It resulted in quite a bit of success.
“Our strength has been we wear everybody else out,” head coach Bob Huggins said.
But that certainly hasn’t been the case this year as West Virginia is down to eight scholarship players in unprecedented year for the basketball program with injuries and other issues.
First there have been the injuries to Sagaba Konate and James Bolden that have limited their time on the floor. Neither of those players are likely to return this season as Konate has been out since December with a knee injury and Bolden has battled a number of ailments including most recently a high-ankle sprain.
Injuries are a part of the game and that’s no different at West Virginia but when you throw on top the dismissals of Esa Ahmad and Wesley Harris, two of the most utilized players on the team, it gets even more complicated. Those four alone were four of the key upperclassmen on the roster and add the neck injury that has sidelined Brandon Knapper and it truly becomes a numbers game.
“We’ve had some devastating things but not to the extent that this is. You’re talking about four starters,” Huggins said when asked if he had seen anything like it in his career.
It’s a situation that has forced Huggins to constantly attempt to plug holes and look for answers by moving people around into different spots on the floor. Some of it has produced some positive results and not so much with some other things as well. It’s a game of tinkering and one he didn’t expect to be playing.
While depth is stretched, it does afford those players that remain an opportunity. And it’s one that could prove invaluable for their development moving forward with the basketball program.
Freshman Jordan McCabe took control of the point guard spot against Baylor playing a season-high 38 minutes which also led to a career-high 14 points with 4 assists and only 1 turnover. He was effective in his role by getting the Mountaineers into what they needed to get into on offense and truly stood out as an effective option after an up and down year.
Same can be said for junior college transfer Andrew Gordon who also scored a career high 13 points after scoring 12 over the last dozen games combined.
“If we can continue to get those guys better and win some games at home and go on the road with some confidence we can move up the standings a bit,” Huggins said.
Huggins saw his team respond against Baylor when the Bears made multiple runs but in the end the program was unable to find a way to win the game. The next couple games are a proving ground for players not only like Gordon and McCabe, but others are they look to try to finish strong and take steps. It will be on those players though to put in the work but in and out of practice.
“I can show them what to do, but I can’t do it for them,” Huggins said.
It’s an opportunity that shouldn’t be taken lightly and there is also still a lot of play for at this point although it doesn’t seem like it on the surface. The Mountaineers still have a chance to clean up some things prior to the conference tournament which is enough of a motivating factor.
“As long as you have an opportunity you have something to play for,” he said.
That first opportunity will come tonight against TCU with tip-off set for 7 p.m.
NOTES:
--Huggins revealed that West Virginia will travel to Spain next summer to compete for ten days which should help the Mountaineers improve in the off-season.
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