WVU shuts down Stark to move on
Senior Murray State guard Jonathan Stark hadn’t had a game all-season where he made less than four baskets. Against West Virginia in the opening game of the NCAA Tournament, that total was one.
The Ohio Valley Conference Player of the Year came into the game against the Mountaineers averaging just shy of 22 points per game and connected on 46-percent of his attempts from the field as well as 41-percent from beyond the arc.
Needless to say, he could put the ball in the basket.
He had eclipsed 20 points a total of 19 times during the first 31 games.
Those totals against the Mountaineers? Stark finished 1-12 from the field, 1-10 from three and with 9 total points with 6 of those coming from the free throw line.
His worst performance before that this season was the only other time he didn’t reach double figures this year against Florida A&M during the non-conference portion of the schedule but even that game he connected on 4-13 from the field on his way to 9 points.
“It wasn’t just me. We’ve got a lot of different guys that can guard. Our main focus was to stop him and make other guys beat us and we just did an unbelievable job of team defense,” senior guard Jevon Carter said.
To put it simply, West Virginia wasn't going to let him beat them.
It was Carter that drew the assignment of Stark at times throughout the game and was able to frustrate and make him work for every shot opportunity. That spilled over to others as the Mountaineers made it a priority to not let him beat them and force others to do the task.
Stark didn’t make a basket in the second half and his only converted attempt of the game was a three-pointer. The Mountaineers challenged his shot attempts and attempted to neutralize his ability to attack the basket.
“I just didn’t knock the shots down. Credit to them,” Stark said. “They did a great job of contesting some of my shots, so I got to do a better job of making shots.”
The effort, particularly from Carter, didn’t come as a surprise to his coach.
“We see it all the time,” head coach Bob Huggins said.
Now it wasn’t a completely clean defensive game, as the attention to Stark left opportunities open for the other senior on the Murray State roster in forward Terrell Miller. While his counterpart struggled, Miller scored 27 points on 8-11 from the floor while also grabbing 17 rebounds.
At one point in the game, he almost single handedly kept the Racers afloat.
“We kept telling our guys for whatever it's been, three or four days that he can shoot and that's what he does. He's a 40-percent three-point shooter and for some reason they didn't believe us,” Huggins said.
However, the name of the game is survive and advance and West Virginia will be doing just that as the 85-68 win will send the Mountaineers onto the round of 32 against Marshall. A Marshall team that features another skilled guard in Jon Elmore, who scored 27 points in the upset win over Wichita State.
The game is set for Sunday.
