MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — We welcome you to the 13th game of the Big 12 season, meaning 17th-ranked West Virginia will have just two more home games remaining in the regular season after hosting Oklahoma State (13-12, 3-9 Big 12) tonight.
As far as importance, well, they’re all important down the stretch, but this game became a lot more interesting on Monday, as WVU head coach Bob Huggins spoke to the media.
Huggins hinted there would be changes made starting today and we’re guessing junior guard Taz Sherman will either find his way into the starting lineup or certainly play more than the 12 minutes per game he’s averaged through the first 25 games this season.
We’ll get into the ripple effect of moving Sherman into the starting five in a moment. Before that, we want to tackle another part of Huggins’ comments concerning sophomore forward Derek Culver.
It’s no secret Culver has struggled of late — as has the rest of the Mountaineers (18-7, 6-6) — but Culver’s frustrated reaction of getting benched in the second half of last weekend’s loss at Baylor spoke volumes.
He has not scored more than six points during WVU’s three-game losing streak. Culver hasn’t reached 10 rebounds since the Mountaineers hosted Kansas State on Feb. 1. Remember, he was once the Big 12’s top rebounder, but is now down to sixth in the conference, behind guys like TCU’s Kevin Samuel and Baylor’s Freddie Gillespie, who you would not generally think are better men on the glass than Culver.
Culver has also committed 12 turnovers over the last four games, which gives him a team-leading 59 on the season, while also still leading the team in assists with 46. That is one weird combination for a 6-foot-10, 255-pound guy.
So, as Huggins talks about changes, you have to wonder what Culver’s role will be moving forward.
“The guy has got to grow up,” Huggins said. “Every day is not going to be utopia. Whose fault is it that Derek went from being the leading rebounder in the Big 12 and averaging over 10 a game to getting two or three a game? It’s hard to blame it on anybody else. He knows that. Derek is not a dumb guy. He knows that.”
Much more to discuss, but we begin with what you need to know:
TV: ESPN2 (Comcast chs. 36, 851 HD; 209 DirecTV; 143 DISH) for the 7 p.m. tip-off. BETTING LINE: West Virginia is a 10.5-point favorite.
WHAT DOES BOB HUGGINS HAVE TO SAY?
The West Virginia coach stressed that now is the time to make some changes, not only in personnel, but possibly also in strategy. He mentioned several times that Sherman needs to play more, but never came out and said he would start.
Huggins also said maybe he’s played some guys too much and others not enough during the course of the season. It may sound like coach-speak, but minutes after interviews were over, I ran into former WVU point guard Truck Bryant and asked him if Huggins ever threatened lineup changes while Bryant was in school?
“Not one time,” Bryant said.
PROJECTED STARTING LINEUPS
WEST VIRGINIA (This is a total guess)
G–Jermaine Haley, Sr., 6-7, 215, 9.1 ppg. Has one 3-pointer in his last six games.
G–Taz Sherman, Jr., 6-4, 185, 4.8 ppg. Scored 20 points in 10 minutes on Saturday against No. 1 Baylor.
F–Emmitt Matthews Jr., Soph., 6-7, 210, 6.4 ppg. Over last two games (35 minutes played), he has two rebounds.
F–Oscar Tshiebwe, Fr., 6-9, 258, 11.6 ppg. Is second in the Big 12 in rebounding at 9.2 per game.
F–Derek Culver, Soph., 6-10, 255, 10.3 ppg. Has just 13 points combined over the last three games.
OKLAHOMA STATE
F–Cameron McGriff, Sr., 6-7, 230, 10.5 ppg. Averaging 8.2 rebounds per game over his last six.
F–Yor Anei, Soph., 6-10, 235, 8.0 ppg. Leads the Cowboys with 49 blocked shots.
G–Jonathan Laurent, Sr., 6-6, 215, 5.4 ppg. Had 16 points and 7 rebounds in Saturday’s upset against Texas Tech.
G–Isaac Likekele, Soph., 6-4, 215, 11.4 ppg. Averaging 4.7 assists per game.
G–Lindy Waters, Sr., 6-6, 215, 11.4 ppg. Shooting just 26.6% from 3-point range over his last five games.
THREE GOOD QUESTIONS
What happens with Sherman in the starting lineup? The Mountaineers hope it provides more offense, because WVU needs just that after being held to less than 60 points in each of the last three games.
“We’ve got to score the ball and Taz, obviously, has showed he can score the ball,” Huggins said. “We’ll go from there.”
The more interesting notion is what happens with Jermaine Haley if Sherman becomes a starter? Huggins is not happy with how his point guards are shooting the ball or passing it as of late, so Haley could move to point guard. He could also move to small forward or even power forward, because he is 6-foot-7. If Haley is moved to point guard, the Mountaineers now have their largest possible lineup on the floor short of moving Logan Routt to point guard, which Huggins said was already off the table.
What is truly wrong with West Virginia’s offense? It is easy to look at the Mountaineers being last in the Big 12 in 3-pointers made and attempted and simply say they can’t shoot. That’s true, but what else is happening is WVU guards aren’t driving the ball at the basket, either. That may be more of a problem than the outside shooting.
“We just don’t have a lot of guys who can turn the corner and we’re really small at the point,” Huggins said. “A lot of guys are small at the point, but those guys make plays. Our small guys haven’t made plays. It’s kind of like you don’t play the running back who runs out of bounds all the time, right? He gets the ball and runs sideways all the time. That’s about what our guys do.”
Think about Kansas for a moment. The Jayhawks are ninth in the Big 12 in 3-point attempts, but guards Devon Dotson and Marcus Garrett are really good at driving the ball into the lane, which now forces defenses to make a quick decision. If they help up to stop the drive, those guards just lob it up to Udoka Azubuike.
With Culver and Tshiebwe, you’d think WVU guards would be lobbing it up all day to those guys all season. It hasn’t happened, because you have to get the penetration first.
What’s been going on with the Cowboys? After beginning the Big 12 season 0-8, Oklahoma State has won three of its last four, including an upset against then-No. 24 Texas Tech and also a 15-point win at home against TCU. The one loss was just an 8-point defeat at No. 1 Baylor that saw Oklahoma State outscore the Bears in the second half. It also saw Cowboys head coach Mike Boynton Jr. get ejected.
More importantly, Oklahoma State has had different players step up during this stretch, including Anei, who had 15 points against Kansas State and 14 against TCU. Likekele has scored in double figures in three of his last four games. Laurent had 16 points and seven rebounds against Texas Tech and Waters came off the bench to score 16 against Baylor.
“We’re sitting here and everybody in West Virginia is in a downer mode, because we’ve lost three in a row,” Huggins said. “Look at how they started out. Mike’s done a good job of keeping them together and to keep them playing hard. They’ve fought through injuries and he kept their eyes on the prize.”
PREDICTION TIME
The original thought here, because of the way West Virginia has been playing as of late, was the spread would be around eight points, or so. Seeing it at almost 11 is an awful lot of respect to WVU. The Mountaineers need a lot to go right to win by 11 and it’s hard to see it at the moment. I’ll go with a WVU win, but no cover, 68-60.
Justin’s season predictions against the spread: 7-12.
TWEET @bigjax3211
