SAN DIEGO — Sagaba Konate is built like a defensive end with pogo-stick hops. Ajdin Penava is built like a pogo stick.
West Virginia-Marshall, for all the mountain marbles in the NCAA tournament’s second round, could hinge upon the performances of their elite shot-blockers.
Konate, WVU’s 6-foot-8 sophomore, provides brawn and bounce, pinning shots with two-handed certainty and forming a wall around the basket. His 3.29 blocks per game rank third in the country.
The spindly Penava, with only 214 pounds spread across his 6-9 frame, actually tops the nation at 4.03 per game. He admits he’s done so quietly, lacking the intimidating style that trademarks Konate’s highlight swats.
“He is way more physical and more athletic than me — he really gets up,” Penava said Saturday. “Most of his blocks are above the rim, and I usually get mine below. I’m a different player so I’ve got my own ways.”
Most astonishing about Konate’s development is how he navigates foul trouble in an era where defenders get little leeway in the lane. He has fouled out only once in 71 career games,
Conversely, Penava has 15 foul-outs in 88 games, including the first-round upset of Wichita State when he compiled 16 points, eight rebounds and two blocks. The Bosnian-born junior has finished with four fouls in another 32 games.
Penava’s advantage figures to show on the perimeter, where his 3-point stroke and ballhandling could draw out Konate. Murray State forward Terrell Miller made five 3s while scoring 27 points against WVU.
“I was always the small forward (on European teams) because there were three or four guys taller than me,” Penava said. “So I try to use my speed and my dribble against their big guys.”
Teddy buckets
No WVU player’s minutes have fluctuated like Teddy Allen, but the freshman appears to be on an uptick after scoring 16 points against Murray State.
At 6-foot-5, Allen could find himself working against smaller defenders when the Herd uses its three- or four-guard attack.
“I feel like I’m a physical guard who can score the ball,” he said. “If I can get the ball down and I have a smaller player on me, that’s where my advantage is. I feel like that’s what we have to do against Marshall — attack their guards.”
Series scuttlebutt
With national writers pressing to understand why the WVU-Marshall series ended, Herd coach Dan D’Antoni advised, “You will have to ask West Virginia about that.”
A day after his counterpart Bob Huggins said Marshall “can come to Morgantown anytime they want to,” D’Antoni reiterated his stance that the series should be home-and-home or played on a neutral site. He also panned the idea of granting West Virginia a two-for-one.
“We’re a Division I school. You gotta treat us like one,” he said.
Admitting he enjoys needling Huggins and WVU fans, D’Antoni made reference to the Herd featuring eight scholarship players from the state while the Mountaineers’ roster has only three.
“I coach Marshall University, where West Virginians play. We’ll just leave it at that.”
Family divided?
This week marked the 20th anniversary of West Virginia’s Jarrod West banking in a 3-pointer to upset Cincinnati in the NCAA tournament.
But his son, Herd guard Jarrod West Jr., insisted there will be no split loyalties in Sunday’s game.
“I wouldn’t say he’s conflicted at all. He’s definitely rooting for us really hard,” said the freshman, who’s nicknamed “Little Jarrod.”
The 5-foot-11 West averages 7.9 points, shoots 41 percent from 3 and tops Marshall with 56 steals in his first season after signing out of Notre Dame High in Clarksburg, where he was the state player of the year.
That brought only scant recruiting interest from West Virginia coaches.
“A little bit,” he said.” Maybe not as much as I think I should have been.”
Can Jon Elmore dunk?
The 6-3 junior with the sweet 3-point stroke has scored 239 baskets this season, only one via dunk.
That occurred during a 106-70 win over Concord University.
“My teammates were clowning me saying that doesn’t count because it’s against a D-II team,” Elmore said. “But I say it does count, because the stats from that game count.”
The George Washington High alum could break Marshall’s single-season record early in the matchup against WVU, though he’s unlikely to do so with a dunk.
“I tell the guys when dunking becomes three points I’ll start dunking a little more.”
Pressing question
Can Press Virginia extend 94 feet or will it favor a halfcourt approach to slowing Marshall’s array of shooters?
“I think we still can press them — we just have to rotate earlier,” said Mountaineers guard Beetle Bolden. “They’re a good transition team and they love to get the ball up the floor.”