West Virginia faces challenge with Rhode Island guards Fatts Russell, Jeff Dowtin

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Pitt’s Trey McGowens and Xavier Johnson drove the ball to the basket every chance they could.

Northern Iowa’s trio of A.J. Green, Spencer Haldeman and Trae Berhow combined to launch 16 3-pointers.

Through its first six games, West Virginia has faced a variety of guard combinations, each with their own strengths and weaknesses.

That does not change today, when the Mountaineers (6-0) — fresh off their championship in the Cancun Challenge — host Rhode Island (5-2), at 2 p.m. in the WVU Coliseum.

The Rams will offer up the challenge of defending junior point guard Fatts Russell and senior Jeff Dowtin, who are combining to score just under 35 points per game.

“They’re really good,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. ”Are they the best we’ve faced? They very well could be. They both can score it at all levels. They can finish around the basket and put it on the floor. They can do it from deep. They’re pretty well rounded offensively.”

Listed at just 5-foot-10 and 165 pounds — not exactly the build you would expect of someone nicknamed Fatts — Russell has scored at least 18 points in six of the Rams’ seven games. He’s scored 20 or more over his last five.

His mother gave him the nickname, because he was a chubby baby, but Daron Russell kept the name while growing up in Philadelphia learning his craft. In last season’s 83-70 victory against the Mountaineers, Russell went for 18 points, six rebounds and five assists.

“He’s explosive,” Huggins said. “I think he’s a kid who grew up playing in the city against bigger and older guys his whole life. He’s kind of grown up playing that way.”

Dowtin, a more sizable 6-3 guard, out of Upper Marlboro, Md., also had 18 points against WVU, while adding seven assists and five rebounds.

Rhode Island, which finished 18-15 last season, returns four starters from that team and its only two setbacks so far have come from Power Five conference teams in Maryland and LSU. The Rams also own a 14-point victory against Alabama.

“They’re just so guard oriented that they’re going to play a little faster,” Huggins said of the Rams, before noting WVU would likely not change it’s bigger lineup. “We haven’t sized down yet. If you look at Northern Colorado and Northern Iowa and the way they shot the ball, we didn’t size down against them.”

Meanwhile, Huggins said the Mountaineers would continue their work on the defensive side, which has been solid so far.

WVU is holding teams to just 35% shooting from the field and 25.4% from 3-point range. Both rank second in the Big12.

Those stats have come primarily from the Mountaineers’ man-to-man defense and Huggins said he would like to work in some type of zone defense.

“Basically what we’ve done so far is let them come down the floor every time and see we’re playing man-to-man and get kind of comfortable in running what they’re going to run,” Huggins said.

The reason Huggins wants to work in a zone defense: ”The more you can make people uncomfortable in our game, the better off you are,” he said.

Exactly what type of zone Huggins is referring to remains to be seen. The only thing for sure is it won’t be a 2-3 zone.

“I think’s it’s awfully passive,” Huggins said of the 2-3 look. “That’s not in my DNA.

“I’ve always wanted to get pretty solid at running man-to-man first. “At some point in time, I don’t know when, but I want (to work in a zone.) It’s a matter of trying to fit what we do with our personnel.”

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