Two hours after West Virginia wrapped up an 80-77 win over Auburn last Saturday in the SEC/Big 12 Challenge, TCU guard Mike Miles Jr. had to be helped off the court early into the Horned Frogs’ matchup at Mississippi State.
Miles, the Big 12 Preseason Player of the Year and one of the premier guards in college basketball, did not return in what amounted to an overtime loss. He underwent an MRI on his right knee Sunday that showed he suffered a hyperextension.
While the injury is not expected to sideline Miles longterm, he is unlikely to play in Tuesday’s 9 p.m. matchup with the Mountaineers at Schollmaier Arena.
“When Miles has a bad day, they have a lot of other people very capable of stepping up,” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “They have at least three or four guys that are really good shooters and guys that handle the ball. He’s a great player. They’re going to miss him, but they have a whole bunch of other guys that can step up for them.”
The ESPNU-televised affair marks the second meeting this season between the two teams. In the first, West Virginia delivered one of its more impressive performances this season to claim a 74-65 victory back on January 18.
The 15th-ranked Horned Frogs (16-5, 5-3) get their chance to even the season series, though it seems they’ll have to do it minus Miles, who averages 18.1 points and scored at least 13 over the first eight Big 12 games, while surpassing 20 in four.
In the first meeting, West Virginia (13-8, 2-6) dominated the backboards for a 31-18 rebounding advantage and came up with 14 of the game’s 18 offensive boards. Although TCU shot better than 50 percent (22 of 42), the Horned Frogs attempted 12 fewer field goals than WVU in large part because of 19 turnovers.
Afterward, TCU head coach Jamie Dixon described the matchup as one that “wasn’t a basketball game.” Dixon noted there was a different level of physicality, but that it wasn’t anything the Horned Frogs didn’t expect.
“I have great respect for Jamie, and Jamie and I have coached against each other for quite a number of years now. We both have a pretty good idea of what the other one is going to do or at least what they’re capable of doing,” Huggins said. “I haven’t done anything really but watch TCU since the Auburn game has been over, and I’m sure Jamie’s done the same. He’ll try to figure out how to change what we did to them and we’ll try to figure out what they did to us and how we can get better.”
West Virginia had success with aggressive ball screen defense in the first matchup, often employing double teams on Miles and other perimeter-oriented players that attempted to free themselves or a teammate by utilizing a pick.
“They’re going to adjust, because we doubled all the ball screens the first time, and Jamie made reference to it in a couple of his interviews,” Huggins said. “I’m sure they’re going to try to make some adjustments. We’re at the point where we’re getting fairly good at what we do, so we’ll probably just keep doing what we do.”
Emanuel Miller, a 6-7 forward, and 6-5 guard Damion Baugh are the go-to offensive options if Miles isn’t in the lineup. Miller averages 13.5 points and Baugh is at 12.7.
The Horned Frogs were without 6-foot-7 guard Micah Peavy in Morgantown. Peavy, who averages 7.9 points, figures to play a more prominent role without Miles.
Chuck O’Bannon Jr., a 6-6 forward, is also a key contributor with a 7.8 scoring average. He is narrowly ahead of 6-11 center Eddie Lampkin Jr., who averages 7.7 points and a team-best 6.8 rebounds, though Lampkin has missed the last two games with a high ankle sprain suffered January 21 in a victory at Kansas.
JaKobe Coles, a 6-7 forward, is another pivotal piece of the Horned Frogs’ front court and averages 7.4 points.
Fresh off a career-high 31 points with seven 3-pointers in the victory over the Tigers, off guard Erik Stevenson is the Mountaineers’ top scorer at 13.9 points.
“Erik has kind of found himself and become much more of a team player,” Huggins said. “His understanding of where and when he can get shots is so much better.”
Forward Tre Mitchell is behind Stevenson at 12.2, though he’s scored only seven points over the last two games. Point guards Joe Toussaint (10.5) and Kedrian Johnson (10.2) round out WVU’s double-figure scorers, a title forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. also recently held. Matthews, however, is 4 for 17 with 12 points over the last three games, causing his scoring average to drop a full point to 9.4.
Fortunately for the Mountaineers, their depth has been on display of late. Center Jimmy Bell Jr. scored 15 against Auburn to match his output from the first meeting with TCU, when Bell also added 12 rebounds. While guard Seth Wilson was a non-factor Saturday, he scored a career-high 15 points on five 3s last Wednesday in a win at Texas Tech.
“Everybody is not going to play well every day,” Huggins said. “Tre didn’t have a great day the other day and we were still able to win. Emmitt’s had some days where he didn’t play as well as he’s certainly capable of playing, which happens to everybody. Seth has done a great job for us coming off the bench when other guys have struggled making shots. It’s a luxury to have guys that you can bring in off the bench that can pick up for guys you feel aren’t having their best days.”
Additionally, post player James Okonkwo has provided three straight productive performances after not playing in two of the team’s first six Big 12 games and logging 2 minutes in two others.
“He really had a hard time adjusting to the physicality initially,” Huggins said. “He kind of relishes it now.”
Huggins, as a whole, has reason to feel better about his team, which has won three of four overall and gained confidence away from home with last week’s result in Lubbock that snapped a 12-game losing streak in Big 12 road games.
“We have such a conglomeration of a lot of different people who have been coached so many different ways,” Huggins said, “and to be able to get all those guys on the same page was really a struggle. Everybody understands what their role is and what they can do and what their teammates can do. That puts us in a much better place.”