West Virginia basketball advances to title tilt with Western Kentucky

Two games, two days and two wins for the West Virginia basketball team as they never trailed in a 78-66 win against VCU to move onto the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic Championship Game Friday.

Junior Derek Culver was a major factor in the post in this one scoring 23 points and grabbing 14 rebounds and it was his production that gave the Mountaineers an early 10-point edge they’d never relinquish. The Ohio product was responsible for eight of the first ten for Bob Huggins club.

“I felt like it happened naturally I just wanted to play hard for my teammates. I try to play hard on the defensive end and the offensive end was going to follow suit just because of how hard I was playing,” he said.

That was important as the Mountaineers struggled from the field early but was able to rebound the basketball and put themselves in position for an early lead despite those issues.

“Derek kept balls alive and scored it close to get us a 10-point lead before our perimeter guys kind of warmed up and when they started making shots, we were able to stretch the lead,” Huggins said.

Culver spent the off-season trying to emphasize slowing down once he got the ball in the post and that was on display at times against VCU many times in the game. He was able to scan the situation and if he weren’t double-teamed, he would attack, while other times he would kick to open shooters. It’s just part of the natural progression of playing in the post and one that has made him more efficient.

“Slowing down has really helped me a lot and makes me see the floor better,” he said.

Again, it was far from a pristine effort, with 21 turnovers as West Virginia struggled with press break and also missed some baskets that could have put the game away earlier than it did, but the final result was the same and the program will now have a chance to do what it set out to do.

“Three games in three days. Three different styles of play. Three different styles of coaching,” Huggins said. “We haven’t worked on press breaker but we’re still awfully young. We’re not quite as seasoned as some of the other people are.”

Ironically even with those turnovers, Huggins felt that West Virginia played a better all-around game offensively than they did in the opening matchup with South Dakota State. Shooters and former junior college scorers Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman combined to make five of ten from three-point range, while the rest of the team made only one of six from deep against the Rams.

“Only way to make shots is to shoot them,” McNeil said.

The Mountaineers have advanced to take on a Western Kentucky team at 1:30 p.m. that has defeated Northern Iowa and Memphis on back-to-back days. Like West Virginia, the Hilltoppers have a formidable presence in the post in Charles Bassey, who averages 16 and 11 over the first two games.

That will serve as a challenge for both Culver, and fellow big Oscar Tshiebwe, who has started the year a little slower on the stat sheet than many expected. He has scored 18 points over two games.

“They’ve got two really good bigs. Their other big (Carson Williams) really put the game away for them today being able to post and score around the rim. We are what we are. Obviously, this is Derek’s third year, Oscar’s second year but they know what they’ve got to do,” Huggins said.

Still, the nature of these events mean that the Mountaineers have to be ready to play anybody including this matchup against a Western Kentucky team that is not only formidable in the post but is lead in scoring by senior guard Taveion Hollingsworth at 22 points per game while shooting 48-percent from the field. Overall, five of the top six scorers for the Hilltoppers are upperclassmen.

“They’re very well coached. Rick does a great job of coaching them. They’ve got a lot of experience. I think that’s the thing that stands out about them. They’ve got three or four guys that have been four or five-year guys and they don’t lose their poise.”

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