MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In a perfect world, Bob Huggins could simply hand the ball to Esa Ahmad at the top of the key, set a screen. and watch him drive to the basket.
Except that isn’t Ahmad’s game.
The West Virginia forward is more old-school, if you listen to those in the program; more of a read-the-defense kind of guy instead of flash and dash.
“Coach Huggins always tells me I’m great moving without the ball,” Ahmad said Saturday after scoring a career-high 30 points in an 88-76 victory against Valparaiso.
It can be a rare trait for players who have grown up running isolation plays in AAU competition.
Ahmad is more about cutting and curling around screens set away from the ball that help to get him open looks at the basket.
“AAU, I think, conditions these guys [to think] they have to have the ball,” Huggins said. “I kind of get him playing without the ball, because handling the ball is not his thing. He’s not a real explosive kind of athlete, but he’s a really good basketball player, because he understands how to play.”
Ahmad said it’s really about reading your defender.
“If he tries to jump the screen, then I’m going to step back. If he goes over the screen, them I’m going to curl around and make him chase me. I just have to read how he plays me and then I make my decision from there.”
Ahmad’s decisions were generally the right ones against the Crusaders. His game was an efficient 12-of-15 shooting that saw him make his only 3-point attempt, but mostly saw him catch the ball with his momentum already moving toward the rim.
“Esa understands that if his guy turns his head, then he’s going to cut by him,” Huggins said. “He does a good job of curling it into the rim. If we ran that play for some of our other guys, they would end up veering out [to the 3-point line] instead of curling it at the rim like Esa does.”
With the game in doubt in the first half, Ahmad scored 16 points. He scored 14 in the second half, including the team’s final eight points in the final 2:46 as the Mountaineers sealed the win.
He was 5-of-6 from the foul line and scored two baskets on putbacks.
He combined with Saga Konate for 56 points.
“We just like to get people playing to their strengths,” forward Lamont West said. “Esa is really good cutting to the basket and playing around the basket. We like to put him in places where he can be successful.
“When Sags got going, it really opened things up inside for Esa. Once we got them both going, there really wasn’t any stopping either one of them.”