MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — The final contest of West Virginia’s five-game home stand pits the Mountaineers in a matchup with Kent State.
Sunday’s 4 p.m. game at the Coliseum will be carried by ESPN2, as WVU (8-1) seeks a sixth straight win since suffering its only loss to this point.
The Mountaineers prevailed over No. 15 Connecticut 56-53 on Wednesday to prolong their win streak and remain unbeaten at home.
Mountaineer head coach Bob Huggins is wary of a letdown from his team following a win that could very well be one of the Mountaineers’ featured victories this season.
“You worry about it any time. We take two-game swings and say we play at TCU and win, and then we go to Texas Tech, you better be ready to play,” Huggins said. “We don’t have a lot of guys that have gone through that. A lot of guys are older, but they didn’t play at this level. There’s a difference with the competition.”
The Golden Flashes (5-3) responded from Monday’s loss to Towson with Thursday’s 69-52 win over Detroit Mercy.
In addition to the Tigers, Kent State lost to Xavier in its season opener and fell to East Tennessee State at the Naples Invitational the day before Thanksgiving.
Kent State, which leads Division I with a free-throw percentage just north of 83, sports victories over Oberlin College, James Madison, George Washington and Point Park, in addition to its most recent triumph over the Titans.
Huggins is impressed with the Golden Flashes’ back court, which features Sincere Carry, Malique Jacobs and Giovanni Santiago — the team’s top three scorers.
Carry is a Duquesne transfer who Huggins is familiar with from his days playing at Solon High School in Ohio. He scored double figures in each of the Golden Flashes’ first seven games and leads the team with a 14.8 scoring average.
Jacobs is coming off a 23-point performance against Detroit and averages 13.7 points and a team-best 7.7 rebounds, while Santiago has 45 points on 13-of-21 shooting over his last three games, including 12 of 17 from 3-point range. The southpaw is one of college basketball’s top long range shooters at 46.5 percent beyond the arc.
“I watched a couple games over the past couple days — they’re good,” Huggins said. “Sincere has really made a huge difference in their team. He’s a guy who can score it from anywhere. Somebody you have to pay attention to. He’s going to make shots. I’ve seen the kid when he was at Solon in the Cleveland area when he was a high school player and he always made shots. He was hurt a lot and actually had a bad knee, but he’s really come back.
“[Santiago] is very good and he’s shooting in the mid 40s from three. That’s hard to do. He’s left-handed, which kind of gives him a little bit of an advantage at times. And then they’re big and athletic across the front line.”
Six-foot-11 Temple transfer Justyn Hamilton (9.9 ppg, 5.6 rpg) and 6-7 UNLV transfer Tervell Beck (6.1 ppg) have been the most productive players in the Golden Flashes’ front court.
West Virginia continues to be led by guard Taz Sherman, who is tied for 10th in all of college basketball with a 21.2 scoring average. Sherman has led all players in scoring in seven of the Mountaineers’ nine games, including his 23-point showing in the win over the Huskies.
Huggins attributes Sherman’s improvement to his offseason approach and penchant for putting in time at the practice facility, along with watching past WVU players’ workout. Sherman had submitted his name into the 2021 NBA Draft before opting to return to college for a final season.
“He had a phenomenal summer,” Huggins said. “He didn’t go home. He stayed here and was in the gym every day and worked really hard. One of the guys smart enough to hang out with the older guys in the gym to see how they work and what they’ve learned by a lot of them going and playing professionally overseas. It really helped him.”
“I honestly didn’t really say all that much,” Huggins continued. “You have a chance to have a heck of a year and a chance to come back and be the guy. The reality is you’re not going to get drafted. You’re not on any draft board, so why wouldn’t you come back and have a heck of a year and see if you can do it next year?”
Guard Sean McNeil returned from a one-game absence for a lower back injury and scored 16 points against the Huskies. McNeil is the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer at 12.5 points.
While no other WVU player averages 8 or more points, the play of DePaul transfer Pauly Paulicap has aided the Mountaineers’ front court over the last several games.
Paulicap is averaging 3.7 points and 3.2 rebounds and logged a season-high 19 minutes against Connecticut. After scoring 10 points over WVU’s first five games, Paulicap has 23 points and 15 rebounds over the last four contests.
“When we started the season, we had no one who could score with their back to the basket,” Huggins said. “Pauly has worked really hard and Pauly is very capable now scoring with his back to the basket. He actually scored with his back to the basket against Connecticut and their bigs. We have somebody now. I wish we had a few more.
“We have guys with size. If DC [Dimon Carrigan] would put a little bit more time in, he’s a skilled guy. He doesn’t sit down. He doesn’t understand how important a really strong base is. When you stand up like that, you’re apt to get moved, particularly down there. We have to get more guys like Pauly that they can’t move.”
Kent State is led by 11th-year head coach Rob Senderoff, who is the Golden Flashes’ all-time leader in wins with 201. In his first season as the Golden Flashes’ head coach, Senderoff helped guide KSU to a 70-60 victory in Morgantown.