Bob Huggins hints at changes to West Virginia’s lineup, beginning with Taz Sherman

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Needing to finish strong just to have an opportunity to earn the No. 3 seed in the Big 12 tournament, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins opened the door to changes in the Mountaineers’ lineup on Monday.

No. 17 WVU (18-7, 6-6 Big 12) has lost three straight and have combined for 52 turnovers and shot 32% from the field in those losses.

“Obviously we’ve got to make some changes,” Huggins said. “We’ve got to make some changes personnel-wise and make some changes with what we do.”

Those changes could come as early as Tuesday, when the Mountaineers host Oklahoma State (13-12, 3-9), who have won three of its last four after getting off to an 0-8 start in conference play.

Short of coming out and publicly naming his new lineup and game strategy, Huggins left little else off the table while meeting with the media, including discussing why changes may be necessary and why he didn’t make them sooner.

Any change to the Mountaineers’ starting five will likely begin with junior guard Taz Sherman, who scored 20 points in the final 10 minutes of play in Saturday’s loss against No. 1 Baylor.

“Taz deserves to play,” Huggins said. “I’ve never been one to play guys just to play them. I think you earn your stripes. Once you earn your stripes, you get a little more leash.”

Huggins stressed that Sherman getting hot late against Baylor once the game was already out of hand isn’t the only reason he could be moved into the starting lineup.

“He’s played really well in practice,” Huggins said. “He’s been our best perimeter player in practice without a doubt. Let’s be honest, we’ve played three guys at the point and none of them have made a shot.”

On point

Inserting Sherman into the starting five creates a sort of ripple effect for the rest of the Mountaineers’ rotation and it’s possible that isn’t the only change Huggins makes to his starting lineup.

Huggins continues to stress frustrations with his point guards in Jordan McCabe, Brandon Knappper and Miles McBride in that they are turning the ball over too much, have been unable to consistently drive to the basket and put pressure on the defense and have not shot the ball well from the perimeter.

McCabe is shooting 22.8% from 3-point range this season and Knapper has made just two shots in the last seven games. McBride hasn’t reached double figures in scoring since Jan. 29.

“If you look at our point-guard situation, we’ve got one shooting 20-some percent and we’ve got one who is one for his last 20-some,” Huggins said. “Sometimes you want them to shoot it before they turn it over, but I’m not sure in this case that’s warranted.”

The X factor

West Virginia’s 6-foot-7 guard Jermaine Haley is the interesting man to watch here.

Haley has spent his two seasons at WVU playing point guard, as well as every other position other than center.

“The beauty of having Haley is Jermaine can play one through four,” Huggins said. “He can guard one through four. Jermaine is as versatile a guy we’ve had since maybe (Devin) Ebanks.”

If Sherman goes in at shooting guard, then Haley is the first guy on the move.

Will it be back to point guard? Will it be to small forward in place of Emmitt Matthews Jr.? Or does Huggins get really creative and move Haley to power forward, which would likely move freshman Oscar Tshiebwe to center and make Derek Culver come off the bench?

“There is nothing off the table,” Huggins said. Other than you won’t see Oscar or (Logan Routt) at the point. That’s off the table.”

Why now?

West Virginia hasn’t scored more than 59 points during the three-game losing skid, a combination of Culver and Tshiebwe being bottled up in the paint and guards not making shots on the outside.

“We can’t get people spread,” Huggins said. “It’s not what you run, it’s the people running it. If they’re not going to make a shot, why guard them? That’s kind of where we are.”

Huggins noted he hasn’t had to change his starting lineup much this season and held strong to that theory, because he didn’t want a young roster to panic amidst of whirlwind of changes.

With just six games left in the regular season, that’s no longer Huggins’ thinking.

“I think we’re past the point of worrying about someone’s feelings,” he said. “All of our feelings are hurt. We’ve lost three in a row. If you’re feelings aren’t hurt now, then shame on you.”

At the beginning of the season, Huggins said playing both Culver and Tshiebwe together gave the Mountaineers their best opportunity to win in March.

Outside of the two games against Kansas, WVU has played the majority of this season with a distinct size and strength advantage.

Huggins said whatever changes are made, he wasn’t interested in going out of his way to keep a big lineup on the floor just to have the size advantage.

“We’re going to try and do what’s best and try to win,” Huggins said. “I couldn’t care less if we play big or we play small. The 40-some years I’ve done this, I think we’ve played about every which way there is to play. Why would I care?”

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