WHEELING, W.Va. — Nate Adrian’s 3-point stroke looked confident. Beetle Bolden’s knee seemed sturdy. And considering it was an intrasquad scrimmage staged after only eight practices, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins sounded mostly satisfied.
Playing in front of more than 4,200 fans at WesBanco Arena, the Gold team defeated the Blue 55-45 on Thursday night.
BOXSCORE: Gold 55, Blue 45
Hours earlier, West Virginia learned it was picked second in the Big 12’s preseason coaches poll behind 12-time defending champion Kansas.
“It’s very flattering. When you’re the second-best team in the best league in America, you’re pretty good,” Huggins said. “We’ve come a long way in terms of respect in the league, but that doesn’t mean anything unless you back it up.”
Adrian sank 3-of-4 from 3-point range and scored a game-high 19 points though his squad lost.
“Nate’s making shots, which helps all of us,” said Huggins. “He’s very secure about what he can do.”
The 6-foot-9 forward — a career 32 percent long-range shooter — made 47 percent of his 3s during Big 12 action last season and seems intent on staying hot.
“Just a little bit more confident,” Adrian said. “I’ve only got one year left so I want to give it my all.”
Bolden paced the Gold team with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting and grabbed seven rebounds, his first public appearance since tearing the ACL in his right knee more than 12 months ago. Now the redshirt freshman is vying for playing time behind senior Tarik Philip and juniors Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles.
“Every day in practice is a battle,” Bolden said. “Honestly, I think we’re going to have the best backcourt in the nation.”
Carter finished with 12 points, three steals and zero turnovers for the Blue team in a scrimmage shortened to 30 minutes that played out like a pickup game. The Mountaineers, in just their second week of practice, have yet to install many offensive sets or their full-court press.
“We were out there just playing,” Carter said. “We tried to run sets, but it didn’t go too good. We’ve just been dummying stuff in practice, trying to put it together.”
Elijah Macon grabbed a game-high nine rebounds but was on the worse end of an above-the-rim rejection by 6-8 freshman Sagaba Konate. Coaches nicknamed the Mali-born recruit “Little Devin” based on his muscular resemblance to last year’s top rebounder Devin Williams.
“Sags has got great strength, he’s got a great body, he’s got really good bounce,” Huggins said. “And he’s aggressive, which is good. The block he made on Elijah, we haven’t had anybody make that since Wellington Smith.”
The Mountaineers play their only exhibition game on Oct. 29 in Beckley against Division II school West Virginia Tech before opening the season Nov. 11 against Mount St. Mary’s.
“We’ve started to put a little bit of pressure in, and that’s our bread-and-butter, so we’re going to have to start spending a little more time on that,” Huggins said. “There’s a lot of things left to do.”