MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s best candidate for most-improved player may come with an asterisk.
That’s only because Malik Curry wasn’t even on the Mountaineers’ roster last season.
But, as the Mountaineers (14-16, 3-14 Big 12) get set to close out the regular season Saturday against TCU, Curry will likely find his role in March to be completely different than it was back in November.
The 6-foot-1 point guard transferred to WVU from Old Dominion last April, not knowing then if Deuce McBride was going to come back to college or keep his name in the NBA Draft.
At that point, WVU’s coaching staff didn’t know McBride’s destination either, making Curry’s signing something of a security blanket.
Since the second half of this season, Curry has provided more than just security. The fifth-year senior may just be the Mountaineers’ top offensive threat.
“I always had that problem of adjusting to schools at the beginning,” Curry said in January. “Even at junior college and Old Dominion, it’s been like a pattern. Once I get comfortable, it starts to show in a good way.”
If you split WVU’s 30 games played in half, Curry’s numbers tell that exact story.
In the first 15 games, he averaged 6.9 points and attempted 86 shots.
In the 15 games since — all of them against Power Five conference competition — Curry is scoring 11.4 points and has attempted 120 shots.
In his last three games — against Iowa State, Texas and Oklahoma — Curry is the Mountaineers’ leading scorer, having put up a team-high 17 off the bench in Tuesday’s 72-59 loss against the Sooners.
And this is the tricky part to Curry’s role changing, because WVU head coach Bob Huggins has generally preferred bringing Curry off the bench to limit his minutes.
The reason? Listed at 190 pounds, Curry’s body takes a lot of pounding with his style of constantly driving into the lane to score over bigger and stronger players.
“I really would rather, particularly going into the conference tournament, not have to play Malik so many minutes,” Huggins said. “He constantly gets knocked around. For some reason, the whistle doesn’t blow as much as I think it should have been blown, the way he takes the ball to the goal. I don’t know if he could play any more than he’s already playing.”
Huggins may not have a choice in the final games, though.
After sitting out WVU’s loss against Iowa State with a hip injury, Kedrian Johnson tried to make a return in the last two games.
Both times he was unable to play more than a few minutes of the first half, opening the door for Curry and freshman Kobe Johnson.
Curry started the second half against Oklahoma, along with Pauly Paulicap, Isaiah Cottrell, Taz Sherman and Jalen Bridges, which left guard Sean McNeil to come off the bench.
That lineup — Paulicap and Dimon Carrigan rotated at power forward — did not get off to a good start, as the Sooners took a four-point halftime lead up to nine over the first five minutes of the second half.
“Keddy is hurt and played, what, two minutes?” Huggins said. “Who else do I play, unless I play one of the freshmen?”
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