MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — West Virginia’s last practice before traveling to Waco, Texas, wasn’t what Bob Huggins had in mind.
“We were so bad in practice [on Friday], that I just told them, ‘Let’s just shoot and get out of here.’ ” Huggins said. “We threw it everywhere.”
It’s a sight seen too many times for a young basketball team that averages 16 turnovers per game, which ranks 331st in the nation — out of 351 Division I teams.
Much of the blame can go to a West Virginia backcourt that has had little consistency throughout this season, forcing Huggins to switch his lineup constantly.
Injuries to Beetle Bolden and Brandon Knapper put an emphasis on Jermaine Haley and Jordan McCabe stepping up.
The responded with a combined 27 points and nine assists in Saturday’s 82-75 loss against Baylor.
Both guards played 38 minutes.
“We took care of the ball,” said Haley, who scored 13 points and added seven rebounds. “Whenever we have less than 15 turnovers, we usually play pretty good games. I think we had 11 turnovers [as a team] tonight, so we just took care of the ball.”
Between Haley and McCabe, the two guards accounted for just one turnover.
“It’s very important that we move the ball and we’re told that every day in practice,” McCabe said. “If we control the ball and get into our [sets], we have great stuff in place and we’re going to be able to score into the 80s, hopefully, if we continue to build on it.”
Heading into the season, West Virginia guard play was the team’s biggest question mark.
As the season wore on, so many more questions popped up, as center Sagaba Konate went out with a knee injury and Derek Culver emerged at that position after missing the team’s first 10 games.
Forwards Esa Ahmad and Wes Harris were dismissed earlier this month, which only added to the uncertainty.
Through it all, West Virginia has never had a game this season where both starting guards scored in double figures and finished with more assists than turnovers — until Saturday against the Bears.
The reason? McCabe said the Mountaineers played at a better pace offensively.
“Transition leads to easy shots,” he said. “The more you push it, the more you get step-in threes or you’re going to get lay-ups or get to the free-throw line.
“To be honest, if we can move it in transition, we look really good. It’s a game that is supposed to be played at that up-tempo speed.“ ”
There is still much work to be done, Huggins said.
“Our problem is they don’t know where to look,” Huggins said. “They will, but you get focused on the first option and they just stay on the first option. When the first option gets taken away, you go to the second option or the third option and we don’t do that. We will, but we haven’t done it yet.”
McCabe and Haley combined to shoot 10 of 17 from the field, which helped on a day when Culver struggled from the inside and Lamont West shot just 4 of 14 from the field.
Both guards left Waco feeling they had something positive to build on for Tuesday’s home game against TCU.
“Every game is a learning experience for us,” Haley said. “We haven’t been doing too well, but we take little things from each game and go back to practice and work on it and try to be better for the next game.”
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