Culver, Tshiebwe have unique challenge in defending Oklahoma’s forwards

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — It is a game of Xs and Os, but for West Virginia forwards Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe, the adjustments they are asked to make each game can go beyond what is drawn up on Bob Huggins’ clipboard.

Such is life in the Big 12, where one game they are being told to stay close to the rim so Kansas center Udoka Azubuike doesn’t get five or six lob dunks and then it is something entirely different with the next opponent.

That will be the case at 4 p.m. Saturday, when No. 20 West Virginia hosts Oklahoma in a match-up of two of the three teams tied for fourth place in the Big 12 standings with three games remaining. Former WVU great Rod Thorn, an NBA Hall-of-Famer, will have his No. 44 jersey retired by the school at halftime.

Oklahoma forwards Kristian Doolittle and Brady Manek torched the Mountaineers on Feb. 8 for 38 points and five 3-pointers, with Doolittle scoring 27 of those.

The difference being the Sooners (17-11, 7-8 Big 12) rely on a play termed “pick-and-pop” just as much as the Jayhawks rely on the lob dunks.

In theory, the play is simple. Doolittle or Manek set a screen for a guard and then pop out behind the 3-point line to catch the pass.

The result in the first game against WVU (19-9, 7-8) saw both forwards take wide open shots.

“People weren’t guarding me,” Doolittle said after the first game against the Mountaineers. “It got to a point where it’s like, ‘I might as well shoot.’ Then when you start making them, they have to game plan you a lot differently. It makes the game a whole lot easier when you’re a threat from deep.”

West Virginia is first in the Big 12 in guarding the 3-point shot — opponents are shooting 28.4% from behind the line against the Mountaineers — but Oklahoma went 7 for 15 (46.7%) in the first meeting this season.

The problem? Huggins said there were two of them, actually.

“Where we got in trouble was we didn’t leave when the screener left,” Huggins said. “We had two problems. One, we didn’t get up to the screen and kind of stayed back. The second thing was we didn’t leave when the screener left. What happens is your guys are expecting a screen to be there and are expecting to get help and there is no help there.”

Culver and Tshiebwe can’t defend the play as a normal pick-and-roll, because they have to stay with Manek and Doolittle.

Even then, West Virginia defenders will be under pressure to find guard Austin Reaves, who averages just under 14 points per game and scored a season-high 24 points during last week’s loss against Oklahoma State.

It’s part of an offensive strategy devised by Oklahoma coach Lon Kruger, who spent parts of three years as the head coach of the Atlanta Hawks from 2000-2003.

“If someone does a good job on Doolittle, he’s pretty much just occupying a guy,” Huggins said. “If you watched the Oklahoma State game, Reaves took all the shots. He got all of the (isolations). When Manek’s hot, he gets all of the isos. Lon does a great job, and part of it is his NBA experience, but what he believes is go to the hot hand. He does a great job of that, but you have to occupy all the other people at the same time. It’s not like they throw it to Brady and get out of the way.”

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