MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — As far as opening nights go, West Virginia’s 79-71 victory against South Dakota State on Wednesday wasn’t exactly star-studded theater.
At times, especially in the first half when WVU head coach Bob Huggins was trying to work some different guys into the rotation, the game was nearly too horrifying to watch.
Know what? That’s O.K. right now, because of all the reasons you already know about. There were no closed-door scrimmages, no exhibition games and preparations for South Dakota State didn’t go all that smoothly considering the Jackrabbits were the third team named as the Mountaineers’ opening opponent.
“The reality is we were supposed to play Texas A&M and then they dropped out,” Huggins said. “Then we were going to play Northern Iowa, but they got moved to a different game, and so we actually did four scouts. Obviously, we didn’t do a great job with the last one, but we had already done three, so we were running out of time.”
So, it’s going to take a little time for everyone to get on the same page this season. Not just at WVU, but for the majority of all college basketball teams, many of them dealing with ever-changing schedules and opponents just like the Mountaineers are.
Let’s get to something else a little more different. Let’s get to Sean McNeil. The junior guard played 32 minutes Wednesday, and for the most part, I couldn’t tell you if they were good minutes, great ones or just plain bad ones.
Make no mistake, McNeil made plays in the second half that won that game for the 15th-ranked Mountaineers. Like the 3-pointer he hit from about 25-feet away that gave WVU its largest lead of the game, 52-40, with 14:37 remaining.
Or like how McNeil put it on himself to drive to the rim and force the Jackrabbits defense to make a decision on whether or not to adjust to him, which they did. McNeil dished the ball to teammate Gabe Osabuohien with 50 seconds left and Osabouhien’s baseline basket basically sealed the game.
But, man, there were other minutes that made you scratch your head.
Most of them came in the first half. Once WVU forward Oscar Tshiebwe was saddled to the bench with two early fouls, the Mountaineers began throwing up 3-pointers as if they were worth five points each.
Most of them weren’t even good looks and some of those belonged to McNeil, who finished with 16 points, but shot just 2 of 9 from 3-point range.
South Dakota State, “did a really good job of packing in their defense and not allowing easy passes into the post,” WVU guard Taz Sherman said. “They forced us to take shots that we normally wouldn’t take.”
When the going started to get a little rough, WVU’s guards simply started chucking up threes. That’s a problem, one that will likely be fixed sometime in the near future, at least we hope.
It isn’t that Huggins is going to pull the plug on 3-point attempts this season, but if players are just going to come down the floor and launch one without even looking to make a pass, well, that’s got to change soon.
And change is what McNeil was about in this game.
Sure, he still took a few threes in the second half, but he became more than just someone on the floor looking to shoot from the outside. Rather, McNeil began putting the ball on the floor and going past defenders. He helped to set up teammates with his passing.
And the 3-pointers he took were within the framework of the Mountaineers’ offense in the second half and he shot them with confidence.
That’s the Sean McNeil this WVU team needs this season, one who is confident and well-rounded and not the one chucking 27-footers off his back foot just because he feels likes it.
“We had to find a way to get some scoring,” said Sherman, who added 14 points and was 4 of 6 shooting from behind the arc. “That’s what me and Sean had to do. Emmitt (Matthews) hit a couple of jumpers. We all had to come in and uplift the scoring.”
There’s no question guys like McNeil and Sherman are going to play a large role in just how much success the Mountaineers have this season. They have to make shots to keep defenses honest. To that point, so does Deuce McBride, but he’s taking a different kind of shot and playing a different type of game than Sherman and McNeil.
“I think a lot of our shots we can make, but they just didn’t go in today,” said McBride, after the Mountaineers shot just 39% (30 of 77) from the field. “I think we’re going to look at the film and see how we can get our offense moving better and have a little more flow to it.”
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