MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Walking into the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, forward Derek Culver caught a glimpse of himself on the program cover of Mountaineer Illustrated, and figured good things were ahead for him.
“I saw myself on the cover and I was like, ‘I’ve never seen that before. What’s going on?’”Culver said after West Virginia’s 79-71 victory against Oklahoma.
Once the freshman from Youngstown, Ohio, reached West Virginia’s locker room, he heard even better news.
“Coach Huggins goes, ‘D.C., you’re in the starting lineup,” Culver said. “I was blessed to be out there.”
He responded with 13 points and 14 rebounds on a day the Mountaineers came away with a 46-30 rebounding advantage.
It was Culver’s first collegiate start.
“I was kind of taken by surprise by it, to be honest,” Culver said. “I didn’t know it was going to happen. I actually thought I wasn’t going to start any games this season.”
Huggins said the move was a matter of rewarding Culver for his improving play. He is averaging 11.2 points and 8.3 rebounds after serving a team suspension for the first 10 games of the season.
“I think he deserved it,” Huggins said. “No other reason other than him deserving it.”
No Beetle
West Virginia guard Beetle Bolden missed his second consecutive game with an ankle injury.
Bolden watched the game from the bench in a blue warmup suit and a crutch.
“It’s not an ankle sprain, it’s a high ankle sprain,” Huggins said. “He had it last year for a while, he did it before the season started, and then he kept tweaking it. He hasn’t been healthy all year.”
On his pregame radio show, Huggins said there was a possibility Bolden could miss the rest of the season, but he stopped short of repeating that during his postgame news conference.
Clamping down on James
Oklahoma guard Christian James came into the game leading the Sooners in scoring (16.3 ppg) and rebounding (7.3 rpg).
He was held to 10 points on 1-of-10 shooting and two rebounds, guarded primarily by West Virginia forward Wes Harris.
“We try to pretty much always put Wes on the other team’s best player,” said Huggins, who credited Harris for playing through illness. “It’s been a rough go for him, because he’s been sick.”
Sooners coach Lon Kruger said James endured similar struggles while shooting 2-for-9 in the previous game against Baylor.
“He’s not making shots as he did earlier in the year. I think a lot of it is his confidence,” Kruger said. “Seeing one or two go down would help him, but he’s continued to work hard. He’s putting time in. We need him to step up there and make some shots.
The Logo impresses
Jerry West and members of the 1958-59 NCAA national runner-up team were honored with other men’s basketball alumni during halftime.
West spoke to members of the team following a practice on Friday.
“I was in awe,” Culver said. “Every word he said was legendary in my book. It was like wow, Jerry West — he’s in the flesh.”