Defensive versatility has the attention of West Virginia hoops players

MORGANTOWN — You’ll probably see West Virginia play a lot of man-to-man defense when the Mountaineers host Bowling Green at 7 p.m. Friday in the Coliseum for a charity exhibition.

Proceeds of the game will benefit the Norma Mae Huggins Cancer Research Endowment Fund.

You may also see some full-court pressure, maybe even a zone defense, or two.

Besides the names on the back of the jerseys, the biggest change in WVU basketball from last season is head coach Bob Huggins having some choices to pick from defensively.

“I feel like we can switch it up, because we have so many versatile people,” WVU guard Joe Toussaint said. “We’ve got big wings who can guard on the perimeter, and we’ve got guards who can guard in the post. We lifted a lot of weights. I feel like we’re ready to play any defense.”

Toussiant, a transfer from Iowa, then listed off a number of different defenses.

“You name it, we’re ready to play any type of defense,” he said.

That could be a major plus considering the Mountaineers struggled on defense a season ago, allowing a Big 12-high 69 points per game.

“I think we’re very good defensively,” WVU guard Kobe Johnson said. “We’ve got great on-ball defenders and guys with good length. We can press, go zone. I think we could do it all.”

Any mention of a full-court press around this state conjures up memories of the “Press” Virginia days gone by.

What the Mountaineers show this season may not exactly be a replica, but it seems to look good so far.

“I like it,” Johnson continued. “It’s been good to get at it, get up in people and see them turn the ball over. It can get the crowd into it.”

Now, these are the opinion of the players. Huggins, to little surprise, isn’t quite as comfortable in how his team looks on defense.

“Not at this point in time, but I think we can get there,” Huggins said. “We played all man-to-man against Dayton (in a secret scrimmage), because I thought we needed to continue to learn.”

In terms of the full-court press, Huggins said it was introduced in practice and …

“We threw it out there at them and confused them pretty good,” he said. “We started to break it down into parts.”

WVU will be trying to bounce back from a 16-17 season and a last-place finish in the Big 12.

Huggins brought in nine new players, including five with previous experience at a Division I school.

“We’re getting better,” Huggins said. “The Dayton scrimmage was good for us. You have to throw a lot at them in a short period of time. They’re picking it up.”

WVU forward Tre Mitchell, a transfer from Texas, is dealing with a foot injury and has yet to practice with the Mountaineers.

Huggins said it was unclear if Mitchell would be ready to go for the season opener on Nov. 7 against Mount St. Mary’s.

“Tre is getting better, I think, daily,” Huggins said. “It’s going to take a little longer, but I think he gets better daily.”

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