West steps up to fill new role for Marshall

Jarrod West has long envisioned himself in this role.

A starting guard his freshman and sophomore seasons for successful Marshall teams, West has transitioned from a role player to an unquestioned leader on the Thundering Herd.

“I’m handling the ball, creating for myself and others, and I think I’ve done a pretty good job of that so far,” West said. “I’ve been efficient some games. I have to be more efficient overall. But I feel like I’m continuing to adapt and get better every game.”

As a true freshman on the 2017-2018 team, West averaged 7.8 points and had 57 steals while starting 35 games for a group that earned Marshall’s first NCAA Tournament win.

Last season, the Clarksburg native and Notre Dame High School product didn’t make the offensive strides he was hoping to. Despite starting 36 contests, West was sixth on the Herd with an average of 5.6 points on 32.2 percent shooting. West did, however, set a program single-season record with 80 steals.

Each of the last two seasons, much of the Herd’s offense went through guards Jon Elmore and C.J. Burks. Elmore finished as Marshall and Conference USA’s all-time leading scorer with 2,638 points, while Burks is fifth in MU history with 1,892 points.

“With Jon and CJ, you have to sit back and let them play, because they’re really good players,” West said. “They can score and they had proven they can score. This year, I’ve had to step up in a leadership role and make more plays.”

The change has yielded positive results to this point.

West is averaging a team-best 14.1 points on 45 percent shooting and is second on the Herd with 46 assists. West will also have a chance to break his steals mark as he’s already registered 35 in only 13 games.

“He’s been chomping at the bit for two years waiting for his turn,” MU head coach Dan D’Antoni said. “He’s stepping up.”

West is coming off one of the better performances of his college career in an 83-61 win over Duquesne. He made four 3-pointers and scored 22 points to go with six assists against one turnover in 36 minutes.

The strong showing led to West earning C-USA Player of the Week honors.

“I wanted to play aggressive and stay aggressive,” West said. “I thought I did a good job of that. I got going early on, which helped me out a lot. I was able to sustain it throughout the game.”

After a slow start to the season, Marshall (6-7) has won four of its last five ahead of C-USA play, which starts Thursday against Rice.

West has benefited from the addition of Andrew Taylor, who became eligible to play second semester. Taylor, a redshirt freshman guard, is averaging 13 points and four assists through his first four games with the Herd.

“He has Andy to give ball-handling help,” D’Antoni. “Jarrod’s fitting his role. We’re going to hope it continues and I’ll be a real successful coach.”

With Taylor, Marshall has posted lopsided wins over Morehead State, Eastern Kentucky and the Dukes, while losing a close game at Northern Iowa.

“He’s another ball handler we can use to run our offense and we run a lot of pick and roll,” West said. “He’s a good spacer for us, so if we come off and he’s open, he can make shots. He can drive. I think he settles us down a lot, too.”

As Marshall’s most experienced player, West is looking to do his part to ensure the Herd maintains its momentum heading into league play.

“It’s not getting any easier. It’s a new season,” West said. “It’s even more important than what we’ve been doing, because it’s the next game and it’s conference play. 

“Rice is going to come in ready to play and North Texas is good, too. We have a tough weekend coming up so we have to get our rest, prepare physically and mentally and keep getting better.”





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