Derek Culver's spark helps West Virginia hold off Northern Colorado's upset bid

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Derek Culver went from the doghouse to difference maker.

That has been pretty much par for the course for the 6-foot-10 sophomore forward throughout his career for the Mountaineers, who held off a rally from Northern Colorado on Monday to pull out a 69-61 win, in front of 9,740 fans inside the WVU Coliseum.

Culver, who finished with 13 points and five rebounds in just 11 minutes of action sat out the entire first half against the Bears (2-3).

Why?

“I decided not to play him,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “We’re going to do right. We’re going to do right and be on the same page.”

BOX SCORE

For a while, it looked as if the Mountaineers (3-0) wouldn’t need him, as WVU took a commanding 30-13 lead with 7:44 still left in the first half.

The Bears found life, though, while the Mountaineers went into a near-hibernation.

“We didn’t lock in on defense,” said WVU guard Jermaine Haley, who recorded his first double-double of the season with 18 points and 12 rebounds. “We did a good job of that early in the first half, but then I think we just got too comfortable on both ends of the floor.”

Comfortable enough that Northern Colorado needed less than five minutes to go on a 13-0 to tie the game at 54 with 6:18 remaining.

“I don’t think I can say,” Huggins said when asked what he discussed with his players during the ensuing timeout.

His players gave this synopsis: “Coach has been waiting for our leaders to step up and say something at times like that,” Haley said. “Not only times like that, but during the duration of the game. Coach can only say so much. Me and a couple of other guys started saying that we need to stay composed and put these guys away. They shouldn’t have been playing with us then and they were.”

Enter Culver, literally, in this case. He entered the game at the 15:40 mark and scored off a spin move in the paint to get himself going, before drawing a foul and going 1 for 2 at the line to give the Mountaineers a 52-38 lead.

At the point when the game was suddenly tied at 54 is when Culver came through with his finest moments of the game.

Coming out of the timeout, Culver scored again in the paint that ended a scoreless drought that lasted 4:25.
He then hooked up with Haley on a give-and-go play that led to Haley scoring on an easy lay-up.

“That happens once or twice a game, because guys will double him up,” Haley said. “When guys double him and you move, he’ll find you for sure. That was an easy bucket.”

Culver wrapped up the game going 6 for 6 from the line over the final five minutes and also added a nice baby hook in the lane.

“He was well rested,” joked Huggins. “Derek is talented. If we can get him to do some fundamental things better; he’s the same as those other guys in that he goes too fast. He shoots it before he sees where he’s shooting it and those kinds of things.”

Culver’s first-half benching has been seen before. As a freshman, he was benched for the first half in the final game of the season, because he showed up late to the game.

He missed the first 10 games of his freshman season after he was suspended to give him time to improve his work ethic and academics.

He responded to missing the 10 games by developing into an all-Big 12 freshman and one of the league’s top rebounders.

How he responds this time is entirely up to Culver, but if his second-half performance was any indication, then the Mountaineers (3-0) may continue trending upward.

“We all know the presence he brings on the court,” WVU forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. said. “You have to guard him. On offense, you can’t not throw it to him. He’s an instant spark. He can get you a double-double every night. It was good to have him out there.”

Aside from Haley and Culver, the Mountaineers had no one else score in double figures, but nine different guys played at least nine minutes and all 11 players played at least five.

WVU shot 48% (26 of 54) from the field and outrebounded the Bears, 42-24. Those are both signs of a usual blowout, but not in this case.

“I just think we got up and we relaxed and they took advantage,” Huggins said. “They really shoot the ball and they take advantage of defensive lapses and we had one. What you want is to be able to bring people off the bench to bring you more energy and that didn’t happen.”

Note

WVU forward Oscar Tshiebwe was held to just four points and seven rebounds after finishing with 20 points and 17 rebounds last week against Pitt.

“Oscar looked like a freshman again,” Huggins said.

Because Tshiebwe, who is from the Democratic Republic of Congo, is in the United States on a student visa, he was not permitted to enter the country of Spain this summer when the Mountaineers played three exhibition games there.

WVU travels to Cancun, Mexico next week for the Cancun Challenge and Huggins said those issues are still being worked out.

“I’m told it will be (worked out),” Huggins said. “It’s been a long drawn-out process, but I’m told it will be.”