MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Facing the rest of the season with eight scholarship players, Bob Huggins is not content with simply playing out the schedule.
He pointed to the performance of freshman Jordan McCabe against Baylor, and the flashes shown by sophomore Andrew Gordon as encouraging developments.
“I thought Jordan played really well. He got us into what we needed to get into,” Huggins said. “Obviously, Drew had a breakout game. If those guys can continue to get better and we can win some games at home and go on the road with some confidence, I think we can move up the standings a little bit.”
West Virginia (10-17, 2-12) brings up the bottom of the Big 12 as it prepares to host TCU (18-9, 6-8) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. It begins a four-game stretch against teams placed fifth or lower in the conference standings. The games will serve as an evaluation tool for a group of four freshmen, one sophomore and three juniors who are left to try and pick up the pieces of a disappointing season.
“When you go through what these guys have gone through, you’re going to become closer-knit,” Huggins said.
Looking ahead, Huggins discussed how many of the remaining pieces will fit into the Mountaineers’ puzzle.
Derek Culver and Andrew Gordon
The 6-foot-10 Culver has played in 17 games, recorded six double-doubles and leads the team in rebounds at nine per game.
Huggins said the trick has been trying to get Culver to be more patient with his shots in the paint.
“It’s hard to make shots when you don’t know where you’re shooting it,” he said. “The tendency is if you’re going too fast, you’re shooting it on the turn and you’re letting the ball go before you even see where you’re shooting it.”
As a four-star recruit coming out of high school, Culver prepped a year at Brewster (N.H.) Academy, before enrolling at WVU.
“I’m surprised he’s played as hard as he’s played,” Huggins said. “He didn’t do that in high school. He relied so much on being bigger and stronger and faster. He’s been great to coach. He’s been as good a guy to coach as we’ve had all year.”
Gordon is coming off his best game — with 13 points and four rebounds against Baylor — and Huggins said the 6-9 forward has begun to put more work into his individual game.
On Sunday, “The last two guys to leave practice were Derek and Drew,” Huggins said. “Derek usually hangs around, but Drew doesn’t usually hang around too much. I think they see the opportunity now. Drew’s never done it. This is really only his second year playing basketball.
“It’s an opportunity for him not to take lightly. I think if he comes in and finished strong and becomes a big part of us winning, it bodes really well for him for next year.”
Jermaine Haley
The 6-7 guard has been a sort of utility player this season.
He’s shooting 45 percent from the field, but has attempted only 3.1 shots per game. That changed against Baylor, when he was 5-of-8 shooting and scored 13 points.
“We’ve had to move him more off the ball, because we had to put him on bigger guards or sometimes small forwards,” Huggins said. “I thought for the first time against Baylor he was assertive. He drove it at the basket. He pushed it at transition. I think it took him a while to get comfortable. It took him a while to get comfortable with the coaching staff. It took him a while to get comfortable with his teammates.”
Emmitt Matthews and Trey Doomes
The freshman duo have combined to average 14 minutes per game, but Matthews has been thrust into the starting lineup the last three games since Wes Harris and Esa Ahmad were dismissed.
Matthews played a career-high 36 minutes on Feb. 18 against Kansas Sate and scored nine points.
“Emmitt has got to play,” Huggins said. “We just don’t have enough frontline guys, so he has to play. I think he lacks confidence. As he becomes more confident and more at ease with the situation, he’ll be better.”
The original plan was to redshirt the 6-3 Doomes, but that changed in January and Doomes has appeared in 11 games.
“Trey is more situational,” Huggins said. “We’ve got more people who can play different spots in the backcourt. Small forwards are big guards and he’s a big guard is what he is.
“Small forwards in this league can bounce it and they can shoot it. Generally speaking, the small forwards in this league are the most diverse. He’s got to have more diversity in his game. If you look at what happened when we put him in the [Baylor] game, he scored on a layup, but then dribbled the ball off his leg and then the second one he got to the rim and they blocked it. It wasn’t a gentle block.”