MORGANTOWN — If there were any thoughts among WVU players that Bob Huggins wasn’t going to take rebounding seriously this season, it’s likely the coach made his point during practice Wednesday.
“We’re going to rebound until we’ve got some black and blue butts,” Huggins said following West Virginia’s 60-53 victory against Oakland on Tuesday. “That’s a good way to put it. We’re going to block out and block out and block out.”
The Mountaineers came away with the season-opening win, but there were glaring deficiencies, especially when it came to rebounding the ball.
“I think we earned a lot of respect, because of what we did on the boards,” said Oakland head coach Greg Kampe after the Golden Grizzlies held a 48-33 rebounding advantage in the game. “I’m feeling really good walking away from this basketball game. We rebounded and protected the rim pretty well against a Big 12 team.”
At one point in the first half, Oakland’s advantage on the glass was 21-9. In one possession, the Golden Grizzlies grabbed three offensive rebounds which eventually forced Huggins to call a timeout, because he had seen enough.
“Ever since (Huggins) has been here, we’ve always been one of the best rebounding teams in the country. That’s what he’s used to,” said WVU forward Gabe Osabuohien, who led WVU with nine rebounds. “A game like this where we get out-rebounded, I obviously could see his frustration.”
And if Huggins plans on spending more time in practice on getting his team to be more active on the glass, well, his players were already expecting it.
“I don’t think an Oakland team should ever out-rebound us in any situation,” Osabuohien said. “There’s definitely going to be an emphasis these next two days, because there’s no way we should get out-rebounded by Oakland. Their center was only 6-foot-8. He was their tallest guy on the court.”
WVU (1-0) will have two days of practice leading up to its rivalry game against Pitt (0-1), which has its own set of problems to deal with after losing its season-opener 78-63 against The Citadel on Tuesday.
Rebounding could come into play again against Pitt.
While the Panthers had their share of defensive woes in giving up 13 3-pointers against The Citadel, they did rebound the ball well, grabbing 43.
“Rebounding is just a want,” Osabuohien said. “Who wants the ball more is going to get it.”
Since the start of preseason practice, Huggins has said the Mountaineers have lacked in the rebounding department, mostly because of the departure of forward Derek Culver, who averaged 9.4 rebounds per game last season before leaving school early for a shot at a professional career.
Culver’s tenacity and consistency around the rim, Huggins said, has not been found a season later.
WVU tried to find an instant fix to fill the void by bringing in power forwards Pauly Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan through the transfer portal.
Carrigan had four rebounds in 15 minutes of action Tuesday, while Paulicap had no rebounds in four minutes.
Other than Osabuohien’s nine rebounds, no other WVU player had more than five and those came from guard Sean McNeil.
“We don’t rebound the ball,” Huggins said. “We just stand around and watch. That has to get fixed in a hurry.”
Asked if WVU had the right players to fix the problem, “If they want to play, they’ll learn,” Huggins replied. “If they don’t want to play, they won’t.”
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