MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Derek Culver found things not to like about his seventh double-double.
The West Virginia freshman forward finished with 15 points and 11 rebounds in the Mountaineers’ 90-75 victory against Iowa State on Wednesday, which puts him third behind Kansas’ Dedric Lawson (19) and TCU’s Alex Robinson (8) in Big 12 double-doubles.
But he spent his night spinning like a top, as he constantly worked to avoid Iowa State defenders and make his way toward the basket.
“I don’t know what was wrong,” Culver said while shaking his head.
He was 5 of 10 shooting, but the five missed shots stuck in his head, because they all came from close range.
“Honestly, I’m at a loss for words, because in practice it goes in,” he continued. “I guess when the game comes, I’m tired and I rush my shot.”
Culver’s spin move in the paint is fast, furious and powerful.
West Virginia coach Bob Huggins can deal with furious and powerful, but maybe not the fast part.
“We’ve got to get him slowed down,” Huggins said. “Once we get him to slow down and get his head on the rim, he’s going to be more effective. It’s hard to make shots when you’re not looking where you’re shooting. You’ve got to keep your head on the rim.”
On one scoring play, Culver spun away from one Cyclones’ defender before going with a pump-fake and an up-and-under move on a second defender that got him a lay-up.
“You could say I utilized all my post moves on that play,” he said. “That’s kind of the problem I had in high school. I used to do too much too fast.”
The fact that Culver has enough confidence in a spin move — one he can use to go to either side of the basket — and make some other pump-fake moves near the rim is a sign of how fast his game has developed in what has been a whirlwind season for him.
After missing the first 10 games to work on improving his academics, Culver’s introduction to college basketball was more of a crash course with just two non-conference games to prepare himself for the Big 12 season.
What began as simply trying to power his way past defenders and scoring off offensive rebounds has developed into some sense of a planned strategy near the rim.
But, being fundamentally sound and knowing what to do with the ball against double- and triple-teams is still a work in progress.
Over his last four games — one of them a 22-point, 21-rebound performance against TCU — Culver has also turned the ball over 20 times. He had a season-high eight turnovers against the Horned Frogs.
“I think I’m going to have a conversation with him,” Huggins said. “That’s [14] turnovers in the last three games. We’ve got to slow that down a little bit.
“He’s got good feet. He goes too fast. When he slows down, he’s pretty damn good.”
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