While defense has been the calling card for Mike Carey’s West Virginia teams through the years, the veteran Mountaineer coach is directing much of his attention to the other side of the ball prior to facing Lehigh in the opening round of the NCAA Tournament in San Antonio.
The No. 4 seed Mountaineers (21-5) failed to score 60 points in any of their three games at the Big 12 Tournament. While West Virginia enters Sunday’s 8 p.m. clash with the No. 13 seed Mountain Hawks (10-5) at Bill Greehey Arena averaging 72.7 points, it averaged only 55.6 points in Kansas City last week.
“Our spacing has to get better,” Carey said. “Our spacing wasn’t good the whole tournament. We won two games, but that’s why we didn’t score. We were scoring in the 70s and 80s and all of a sudden we get to the tournament and we’re scoring in the 50s.”
The Mountaineers managed 15 or more points in only half of the 12 quarters against Kansas State, Oklahoma State and Baylor at the conference tournament. They shot less than 33 percent (63-of-191) and were largely ineffective from the perimeter, making only 25 percent (14-of-55) of their three-pointers.
“We had too much 1-on-1, too much dribbling, not enough spacing, passing or going inside-out,” Carey said. “It’s very important we do that. If we don’t do that, we’re going to struggle again in the tournament.”
During its run to the Patriot League title, Lehigh never allowed 60 points while beating Holy Cross, Bucknell and Boston University. The Mountain Hawks have prevented the opposition from reaching 60 points in four straight games after failing to do so for their first 11.
“They’ll play a combination of zones — 1-3-1, 2-3, triangle-and-2 and a little man. They’ll change up a lot and most of their changing up is different looks in a zone,” Carey said. “We’ll probably have to go against that a lot of the time.”
With a full week between last Sunday’s loss to Baylor in the Big 12 final and the NCAA opener, it provides a chance for several Mountaineers battling nagging injuries to heal.
Starting guards K.K. Deans and Kysre Gondrezick and starting post player Esmery Martinez have all been dealing with ankle issues. Carey suggested it would take a lot of improvement throughout the week for point guard Madisen Smith to play for the first time in a month, which would again leave the Mountaineers short on depth.
Still, Carey feels it’s more important for his team to capitalize on its practice time than rest before meeting the Mountain Hawks.
“We need to get a couple of really good practices in, especially because of our offense right now,” he said. “I don’t like where we are offensively. Everybody is chasing the ball. The spacing is not good. The rotation and movement is not good, so we really need to iron that out in practice.”