MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — If Deuce McBride were to return to West Virginia for his junior season, the Mountaineers have the potential to put out a starting five that averaged right around 64 points per game last season.
That does not account for the impact that forwards Jalen Bridges and Isaiah Cottrell could make.
Bridges was a freshman that was thrust into a starting role in the middle of last season, while Cottrell — a top 100 recruit in the 2020 recruiting class — missed the majority of his first year with a torn Achilles tendon.
On paper, getting the ball in the basket doesn’t appear to be a concern for WVU head coach Bob Huggins.
Defense? That’s a whole other game.
“We’ve got to defend,” Huggins said Tuesday during a Zoom call with the media. “We didn’t defend nearly as well as we had in the past.”
The numbers back that up. Only Oklahoma State and Iowa State allowed more points per game than the Mountaineers last season in the Big 12.
WVU’s opponents shot 44.7% from the floor last season, which was eighth in the conference.
In the three months that have passed since the end of last season, those numbers still do not sit well with Huggins.
“We need to do something defensively that is different than what we did,” Huggins said. “Be it some kind of zone, some kind of half-court something.
“You look back to when we were really good, we were good because we kept people off balance. We tried to do some things last year, but we were really bad at it.”
What type of defensive changes are rolling around Huggins mind?
“Hopefully we can do some things differently, play some 1-1-3 and maybe press a little bit, just to change the tempo of the game,” Huggins said. “We didn’t do a good job of that a year ago.”
Speaking of Cottrell
Coming back from the torn Achilles in his left leg, Cottrell told The Dominion Post in May that he was expecting to be cleared for full basketball activities sometime this summer.
Huggins confirmed that Cottrell is close to being back to full health.
“Isaiah, we’re thinking, is going to be full go,”Huggins said. “How about add a 6-foot-10 guy that can pass it, shoot it, step out on the floor and spread the defense?”
In summer workouts, Huggins said Cottrell has taken part in shooting drills.
“They haven’t turned him loose, yet, but he looks good,” Huggins said. “He’s doing all the shooting drills and those kind of things. It’s just a matter of running and stopping and cutting that they haven’t turned him loose to do.”
Changes in the Big 12
Three new head coaches will be on the sidelines for Big 12 teams this season and Texas Tech coach Chris Beard moved over to Texas.
Along with Beard, Iowa State hired T.J. Otzelberger, Oklahoma hired Porter Moser and Texas Tech hired Mark Adams.
“It’s always different. You’re going to have different personnel. You’re going to have different coaches,” Huggins said. “You can’t coach in a league this hard and, if you lose, you’re going to get fired. Someone is going to lose in this league. That’s just the way it is.
“I’m just trying to make sure it isn’t me. It’s really a hard league. I was just looking at some stuff. Wins in the last whatever, we’re tied for second. Kansas is obviously first. I want to not stay there, I want to continue to advance. And I think we can.”
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