Taz Sherman still in concussion protocol, questionable to play against Texas Tech

MORGANTOWN — The call as to whether or not Taz Sherman plays Saturday against No. 14 Texas Tech will not be up to Bob Huggins, but rather up to the WVU medical staff, Huggins said Friday.

The West Virginia head coach confirmed Sherman — the Big 12’s second-leading scorer — has been in concussion protocol since taking a blow to the head against Baylor on Monday.

According to the Big 12’s concussion policy, Sherman won’t be permitted to practice until he is cleared, and Huggins said the guard has been in concussion protocol all week.

WVU STATS

“I have no idea,” Huggins said when asked if Sherman would be available to play against the Red Raiders. “I haven’t been involved. It’s our medical group, as it should be. They’re going to decide what the protocol is. I think our coaching staff and our team are more concerned about Taz’s welfare than we are in trying to rush him back too soon.”

If WVU (13-8, 2-6 Big 12) is forced to go without its leading scorer, Huggins and the Mountaineers are then put in a delicate situation between continuing to try and win this season or look to build some experience for seasons to come.

During a 30-minute Zoom call with the media, Huggins mentioned several times about giving a chance to younger players such as Seth Wilson, Kobe Johnson and Jamel King.

He went as far as saying Wilson and King could make shots and compared King’s ability to do so to former WVU guard Eron Harris, who connected on 133 3-pointers in two seasons with the Mountaineers.

“I think we’ve got some freshmen who can be really good players and be good players here,” Huggins said. “Trying to get them some playing time has been a priority for reasons you can figure out.

“I would like to see them be players for years to come here. I think that’s extremely important.”

But, going out and playing a bunch of freshmen when the roster still has six other seniors not named Taz Sherman, can also become dicey.

For starters, with a strong finish in the regular season and a good showing in the Big 12 tournament, West Virginia wouldn’t be out of consideration for the NCAA tournament.

The flip side is WVU will be an entirely different team if all of its seven seniors move on — Kedrian Johnson and Sean McNeil have the option of returning — so Huggins could also take a look now at what that might look like.

“I think we’re in a situation where we need (the younger players). There’s a huge difference between want and need,” Huggins said. “You could want something, but you can do without it. If you need something, you pretty much have to have it. It’s hard, man, and at the same time, we’re trying to treat people the right way.”

All of this comes with Texas Tech (17-5, 6-3) rolling into town having won four of its past five games, including an emotional win on Tuesday against Texas and former Red Raiders head coach Chris Beard.

In the first meeting on Jan. 22, Texas Tech pulled away in the final six minutes of the game for a 78-65 victory. The Red Raiders dominated on the glass and attempted 36 free throws in a game that saw 50 personal fouls called.

That was a third-straight loss for the Mountaineers, who have now seen that streak grow into six games leading into Saturday. A loss against the Red Raiders would match the 2012-13 team with a seven-game losing streak, the longest under Huggins at WVU.

“The reason we’re in the shape that we are is because we didn’t rebound it and because we threw the ball to the other team,” Huggins said. “You take those two things away, we would’ve been pretty good.”

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