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West Virginia must adjust with status of Sherman up in the air

West Virginia Mountaineers guard Sherman is still in the concussion protocol.
West Virginia Mountaineers guard Sherman is still in the concussion protocol.

West Virginia will square off against Texas Tech today, but it remains unclear if senior guard Taz Sherman will be taking the floor with his teammates.

Sherman, who is the team’s leading scorer at 18.9 points per game, was removed late in the game against Baylor after taking an inadvertent blow to the face. He did not return to the game and head coach Bob Huggins confirmed that Sherman is in the concussion protocol.

But the medical group determines when a player can return and Huggins admitted that right now he isn’t sure the status for Sherman for the 2 p.m. tipoff against the Red Raiders.

“I have no idea,” he said.

The Mountaineers being without Sherman is an obvious blow to a team that has lost six consecutive games, but Huggins reinforced that the team is just wanting what his best for the senior guard.

“Obviously he’s one of the best players in the league so it’s going to affect us. I think our coaching staff and our team is more concerned about Taz and Taz’s welfare than we are trying to rush him back too soon,” Huggins said.

West Virginia is still battling for a spot in the NCAA Tournament and is currently on the bubble in most major prognostications so finding a way to win any game is critical at this junction of the year.

If Sherman can’t suit up it leaves an obvious hole on the floor.

Fortunately, the Mountaineers have already played one game without Sherman when he missed the Texas contest due to COVID-19 protocols so they have an idea of what they will need to do. But if he is unavailable, it means that others are going to have to step up on the roster.

“It’s difficult to lose a player of Taz’s abilities and really don’t know what’s going to happen so you try to juggle some people, move some people around and look at different things to see who gives us the best chance to try to win,” Huggins said.

The goal is to try to put in plans with the players that are available in order to have those guys as ready as possible in the instance that Sherman isn’t on the floor.

Senior guard Sean McNeil is going to be asked to do more as the second leading scorer at 13.4 points per game and the Mountaineers will have to find a way to get him open and some quality looks at the basket.

The head coach also believes it could open the door for some freshmen such as forward Jamel King who will be playing off-the-ball.

Huggins also has been encouraged by the development of the rest of the freshmen group.

“We’ve got some freshmen that I think could be really good players and really good players here and trying to get them some playing time has been a priority for reasons you can figure out,” he said.

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