MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia will have the services of junior point guard Jermaine Haley on Saturday, when the Mountaineers tip-off against No. 7 Kansas.
That was the word from WVU assistant Erik Martin, who subbed for head coach Bob Huggins on the weekly Big 12 media call. Huggins was flying back from a recruiting trip.
Haley injured the hand in the second half of Tuesday’s 98-67 loss against TCU and did not return.
“He’s fine. He took X-rays after the game down in Forth Worth and his hand wasn’t broken,” Martin said. “Jermaine is a tough guy. As far as I know, he’s fine. He probably just jammed it a little.”
In what has been a season of rotating point guards, Huggins has settled on Haley as the starter over the last four games, which has allowed Beetle Bolden to move to shooting guard to add depth at that position with Chase Harler.
He scored 13 points against Kansas State and aded 10 points and seven rebounds against Oklahoma State, before going scoreless against TCU.
Lack of big men
Kansas is 4-1 in their last five games that have been without 7-foot-1 center Udoka Azubuike, who is out for the rest of the season with torn ligaments in his hand.
Azubuike averaged 13.4 points and 6.8 rebounds per game this season and scored 21 points in a game against the Mountaineers last season.
Kansas coach Bill Self said his team has adjusted well with the news that the center will not return this season.
“When you lose a guy for the season, you can at least prepare like you need to play,” Self said. “When you lose a guy temporarily, you don’t really tweak as much, because you know you’re going to get him back. Even though that I hate that Udoka is out, I do think for our other guys, it will make understanding their roles much easier, because this is who we are and he’s not coming back.”
West Virginia has gone 2-6 in its last eight games missed by center Sagaba Konate with a knee injury and he’s not expected to play against Kansas.
Martin said the Mountaineers will still have a size advantage, because Kansas has gone with a smaller lineup in Azubuike’s absence.
“They’re going to a four-guard lineup, like most teams in the Big 12 and most teams in America,” Martin said. “I think we need to take advantage of our size. Our small forward and power forward are 6-7 and 6-8, so I think we need to throw the ball inside and see if we can draw some fouls and get into their depth.”
Throwing the ball inside will mean freshman forward Derek Culver will become a focal point of Kansas’ defense.
Since Culver became eligible on Dec. 22, he’s averaged 12.0 points and 8.6 rebounds. Martin said teams are beginning to defend him differently now that he’s played seven games.
“Derek has a sample size now where people have seen him on film,” Martin said. “Before, they weren’t sure what his moves were or which way he liked going. He’s in the scouting report and he’s been our best player for the past four or five games. Most of the time in the scouting report, you want to stop the player who can do the most damage to your team. I think you saw that against TCU. They double-teamed him. They closed those traps and got in the passing lanes. Our guys did a poor job of getting to a place where he could find them.”
Red alert
West Virginia had Wednesday off following the TCU loss and practiced Thursday for the first time in preparation for the Jayhawks.
“I would assume the team will come out with a lot of energy and we should have a real good practice,” Martin said. “Looking at all the teams in the Big 12, we’re not far from being able to win a game and putting a winning streak together. It starts with one win.”
Martin said players and coaches are not dealing well with the 0-5 start to Big 12 play and hoped a good performance against Kansas could help turn things around.
“We need a win right now,” Martin said. “Until we get that win, we need to be on red alert and I think our kids will be on Saturday.”
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