MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — For 20 minutes, Sean McNeil couldn’t miss.
A 30-footer with just two seconds left on the clock? No problem, just bank it in there.
“My body felt really good going into the game,” said McNeil, who scored 20 of his 24 points in the first half Tuesday night in West Virginia’s 79-65 loss against No. 3 Kansas. “I saw that first one go in and it was a confidence builder from there. I just wish we could have got it done.”
He was a perfect 7 of 7 from the field and McNeil connected on each of his first six 3-point attempts in the first half.
“We thought he could shoot it like that, because he shoots it like that in practice,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “What hurt us was he and Deuce (McBride) were the only two making shots.”
The second half for McNeil was a little different, when he missed all four of his 3-point attempts and added just another four points.
“I just felt like I didn’t get a whole lot of good looks,” McNeil said. “I felt like this whole year I’ve been stressing and pressing and putting too much pressure on myself to get myself going. One of the things I did well in the first half was I let the game come to me. I didn’t want to take a lot of bad shots.”
Looking for a new game
The Mountaineers have an opening on their schedule next week after the University of Buffalo was forced to cancel a Dec. 29 game after some positive tests for COVID-19 came up within its program.
Huggins said WVU would like to schedule another opponent.
WVU Director of Operations Josh Eilert, “is working on it like crazy,” Huggins said. “We’re trying to get someone in there. It’s tough now, because of the (COVID-19) testing. It’s tough, because everyone is trying to get league games in now. Everyone is trying to figure out a way to get league games in and, obviously, league games are a priority. You couple that with the testing we require, it’s tough to get a game in.”
Without a replacement, the seventh-ranked Mountaineers would go 11 days between games.
WVU is scheduled to travel to Oklahoma on Jan. 2.
“We’re trying,” Huggins said.
Trying something new
Huggins has not liked what he’s seen most of the season with how his players handle ball screens and teams getting too many open looks off the Mountaineers’ defense.
McNeil said WVU had put in some small changes to handle screens just for Kansas.
Still the Jayhawks nailed 16 3-pointers and their entire starting five finished in double figures in scoring.
“We did not expect them to shoot the ball that well from three,” McNeil said. “Sometimes teams have those kinds of nights. We tried to switch some things up and switch on all screens from (all the positions except the center). They’re a good team, so it’s a credit to them.”
West Virginia dropped to seventh in the Big 12 in 3-point percentage defense after the loss. Opponents are now shooting 30.1% from behind the arc against the Mountaineers.
“I thought our zone defense was fine until we stopped rebounding out of it,” Huggins said. “Their worst shooter was 6 for 8 and he goes 3 for 3 from three and he doesn’t make threes.
“We haven’t been as physical as we need to be and we haven’t guarded not even close to the way we need to guard. Those two things have to happen.”
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