MORGANTOWN — Whether it was through the national polls, recruiting rankings or NBA mock drafts — all of which pointed in favor of Ohio State — West Virginia players were not naive to the odds they faced in Sunday’s 67-59 victory against the then-No. 2 Buckeyes.
Outside of freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe, a McDonald’s All-American in 2019, WVU did not have the noticeable national recruits. Ohio State countered with five four-star players on its roster from its last three recruiting classes.
“I mean, they have some highly-recruited guys and none of us were highly-recruited, except for Oscar,” WVU guard Chase Harler said. “We still felt like we were the better team. We didn’t come in just looking to compete with them. We expected to win.”
A year ago, the Mountaineers were nowhere near national respect and were about to embark on a journey that would see them finish last in the Big 12.
A year later, the second-ranked team in the country was viewed as an equal by WVU players.
“We felt like we were the better team going into the game,” WVU forward Gabe Osabuohien said. “Not too many teams out there can match up with our size. We felt if our guards could hold their own then we had a great chance to win this game.”
In the midst of that 15-21 season in 2018-19, WVU head coach Bob Huggins promised to fix what ailed the program.
Many assumed it would take at least a couple of seasons to turn it completely around.
Yet, WVU players did not exactly buy into that line of thinking.
They saw a returning core that did get along and wasn’t afraid of hard work and wasn’t caught up in playing time or who was the leading scorer or best draft prospect.
“Honestly, I don’t even care what my numbers are,” said WVU forward Derek Culver, the team’s second-leading scorer and leading rebounder. “I probably did when I was younger, but as a group now, we’re all focused on winning and what it takes to win. All of that other stuff, like stats and everything else, it isn’t as important.”
A 7-0 start seemed to have come unraveled with a tough loss at Madison Square Garden against St. John’s.
Rather than falling back on excuses or finger pointing, WVU players took a look at the larger picture and realized more opportunities awaited them.
This time, they were ready.
“They like each other,” Huggins said. “They pull for each other. You don’t see them running around with the same guys all the time. It’s truly a team deal. They really pull for each other and try to help each other get through some things.”
How has it seemingly happened so quickly? Players give a lot of credit to the recruiting class that came in this season.
Tshiebwe was the headliner of that class, but it was fellow freshman Miles McBride who was the hero against Ohio State with a career-high 21 points.
“He never lets anything get to him. The moment is never too big for him,” Culver said of McBride. “He just goes out and plays and then acts like it’s no big deal.”
Osabuohien was brought in as a Division I transfer from Arkansas and the forward has become an instant team favorite for his ability to do the dirty work on the inside.
Junior college transfers Sean McNeil and Taz Sherman have had their offensive moments, as well. As a group, the five newcomers naturally blended in with West Virginia’s returning players, who were already tired of losing and wanted to do something about it.
“From last year to this year, I just think we got the right guys and the right chemistry,” Harler said. “We’ve got a group of guys who care about each other and we’ve turned around the whole program in less than a year. We’re not going to stop now.”
Notes
* The Mountaineers (11-1) moved up six spots in the AP poll Monday, improving to No. 16. WVU also moved up one spot to No. 9 in the NCAA’s NET rankings, which are used by the NCAA selection committee to pick at-large teams and seed teams for the NCAA tournament.
* McBride was named the Big 12’s Newcomer of the Week after his 21 points against the Buckeyes.
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