MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Emmitt Matthews Jr. was a prime example of how difficult it is to sometimes to figure out college basketball.
Once the sophomore forward found his rhythm during West Virginia’s 86-81 victory against Rhode Island, he scored 14 points in a span of 15 minutes.
He hit two 3-pointers, got to the foul line, scored on a fast break and finished it with a tip-in to end the first half.
By the time the first half came to a close, he was 5 of 8 shooting from the field and 2 of 3 from 3-point range.
“Emmitt gave us great energy in the first half,” WVU forward Derek Culver said. “That’s what he usually does. It’s not just 3-pointers, he gives us a little bit of everything.”
The difficult thing to figure out? After all of that, Matthews attempted just two shots in the second half — none over the final 18 minutes of the game.
“It’s not that hard for me to figure out,” Matthews said. “It wasn’t that things weren’t working for me. I could have shot the ball more. We had Derek Culver on fire in the second half, so what do I need to score for? We had a higher percentage chance at a bucket with him two feet away than from me shooting from however far I was.”
In that one moment, Matthews gave so much insight into his team approach to the game.
The 6-foot-7 forward leads the Mountaineers in 3-point shooting (12 of 25) and he’s the only player to have logged more than 200 minutes so far this season.
Yet his 10.6 points per game is fourth, something that does not bother him in the least.
“It’s just how the game goes,” he said. “It’s a team game. If you can get the ball to someone else who is scoring, do it. I think that’s really what’s great about our team is no one cares about who scores.
“I don’t care that I didn’t score in the second half. As long as we win, I don’t care if I score zero points.”
Matthews has become more of a student of the game, especially now that Culver is joined with fellow 6-foot-9 forward Oscar Tshiebwe on the Mountaineers’ front line.
As defenses begin to focus more on WVU’s towering duo, Matthews said he’s beginning to understand how that opens up things for him and his teammates.
“I see a lot of back-cut stuff,” Matthews said. “Derek will get the ball in the post and I’ll cut and my guy’s head will turn. That’s where I got all of my buckets last year. It all depends on what defenses are giving me.
“Obviously we have the two bigs out there and you have to double team one of them, because if one of them isn’t killing then the other one will. That’s kind of how I pick and choose what I do.”
His decisions vary, because Matthews’ game is not cemented into limitations.
He has the ability to shoot the three or drive to the basket, although he admits his 3-point game is where he’s more comfortable at the moment.
“I don’t know if I have a best thing. I try to keep my game all-around,” he said. “I watch everybody play. I watch Kevin Durant, Paul George and LeBron James. I don’t really want to have one thing I’m really good at. I kind of want to be the best me I can be and I feel like that’s being all-around and trying to do everything good.”
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