WVU offense, we have a problem
It’s not that Texas doesn’t have Bob Huggins attention it’s more that the issues with his own team, namely offensively, have been taking up most of his time this week.
“We haven’t scored the ball. We’ve played bad sometimes and scored 85, but now we’re not scoring the ball the way we need to score the ball. We’re not making shots.”
It’s a thin line and something that Huggins talks about daily but making shots cures a lot of issues and when you don’t it creates them.
He pointed to when the Mountaineers shifted to the 1-3-1 defense against Texas Tech and they proceeded to hit two long three-pointers. Had they missed those shots, West Virginia likely wins the game and the shift to the zone look is likely praised.
But they did hit them and West Virginia lost the game.
“This game is a little crazy because everybody looks good when they’re making shots,” he said.
West Virginia shot 39-percent in a one-point loss to Texas Tech and in Monday night’s loss to Kansas it wasn’t much better hitting just 40-percent with that number 35-percent in the second half.
Passing has been somewhat of an issue, but the Mountaineers simply aren’t making the looks they get. That is hurting West Virginia in other areas as well because long misses often leads to transition which hurts the ability to get stops on the defensive end. Live ball turnovers don’t help things either.
“When you don’t make shots, everything struggles,” Huggins said.
Some of the shooting woes can be pinpointed on the struggles of two of the constants in that department for West Virginia in redshirt sophomores Lamont West and James Bolden. The pair have combined to go 4-17 from the field in the consecutive losses.
Now it’s not entirely on the shoulders of the pair by any means, but the two have shot over 42-percent on the season and have been the reliable options for hitting jump shots.
“Those are two guys we count on as constants,” Huggins said.
Jump shooting is going to likely be a necessity against a Texas team that features size across the front court as well as one of the nation’s top shot blockers in freshman Mo Bamba. The Longhorns starters come in at 6-foot-11 and a pair of 6-foot-9 options to clog the paint.
“They really do a good job of guarding the rim,” he said.
That’s not necessarily the best news when you consider that while players have responded to the challenge and have gotten in the gym, it hasn’t translated in practice in shooting.
“When we start playing they haven’t shot it well,” he said.
While Bamba is an excellent rim protector, arguably the most valuable piece to Texas is leading scorer junior Dylan Osetkowski who does a little bit of everything averaging 14.9 points and 7.7 rebounds.
“He does probably more things than anybody on the team. They run offense through him because he can really pass. He’s able to bounce it, spread you because he can make shots,” he said.
The Longhorns also have gotten a boost by the return of sophomore guard Kerwin Roach who scored 20 points in his first game back after missing a pair of contests due to a broken bone in his hand.
"Just gives them another scorer," Huggins said.
West Virginia will host Texas at 2 p.m.
