MORGANTOWN — Those 28 points he scored? Weeks ago you wouldn’t have thought Jermaine Haley capable of such an outpouring. Heck, Haley wouldn’t have thought Haley possible of such.
For too long, he fancied himself a distributor first and a distributor second and a distributor third, with shooting way down the to-do list. While selflessness with the basketball isn’t a bad trait, here was a kid who might’ve passed while playing Pop-a-Shot.
“When Jermaine first got here, I remember hearing Coach Harrison yelling at him like 20 times a practice to shoot the ball,” said teammate Jordan McCabe. “He does constantly look for the extra pass and to facilitate.”
Until these past two games, shooting hadn’t been very germane to Jermaine.
Then his 23 points at Oklahoma signaled a reversal, and the encore Wednesday night against Iowa State was even better.
“I’m realizing that when I get in transition I can be dangerous,” he said. “Coaches break down film and show me the opportunities where I can score.”
The Cyclones saw Haley at his most dangerous. Along with seven rebounds and three assists, he made 13-of-20 from the floor, aggression completely out-of-character for a guy averaging 3.5 field-goal attempts per game across two Division I seasons.
“I didn’t know I took 20 shots tonight,” he said. “That’s a lot of shots. I should’ve scored more if I took that many shots.”
Uh-oh, it sure sounded like shooter’s remorse in Haley’s voice, but West Virginia doesn’t want him regressing into passivity now. He’s too valuable as a multi-dimensional player who can drive the lane and, at 6-foot-7, see over the guards defending him.
Given Wednesday night’s late confirmation that injured double-digit scorer Beetle Bolden is leaving the program as a graduate transfer, Haley’s offense becomes an even more valuable component for next season’s rebuild.
He’ll still need coaxing, of course. It was amusing to watch Haley reflect on his stat line as though he’d gotten away with something wrong.
“I’ve never taken 20 shots in a game before,” he said.
To which coach Bob Huggins cracked, “He had bad coaching before.”
When Huggs heard that Haley said no team had ever drawn up plays for him, the coach added, “He had better get used to it.”
