MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — It was not exactly Press Virginia, but 11th-ranked West Virginia erased an eight-point halftime deficit against North Texas on Friday showcasing some full-court pressure.
WVU went on an 18-0 run over the first seven minutes of the second half to pull out a 62-50 victory against the Mean Green at the WVU Coliseum.
“We just tried to slow them down,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “We really weren’t trying to steal the ball or make a lot of plays on the ball. We were just trying to slow them down, so we didn’t have to guard for the whole (shot) clock.”
The Mountaineers (5-1) forced three turnovers in those seven minutes and North Texas missed its first nine shots of the half.
“No, that wasn’t something that was drawn up at halftime. That was something coach has had us working through during the week of practice,” WVU forward Derek Culver said. “With the trapping going on, I would say the credit goes to Deuce (McBride), Sean (McNeil), Taz (Serman) and Emmitt (Matthews Jr.). They were really out there flying around and speeding those guys up. They made them make passes they usually don’t make.”
Sean McNeil breaks out
Sean McNeil’s 15 points was just one shy of tieing a career high.
He was 5 of 9 shooting from the field and made two of his three 3-pointers he took.
“It was good to see some shots go in, especially with the way I’ve been shooting the ball lately,” he said.
The rest of the team was just 1 of 9 from behind the arc and WVU was held to just 37.7 (23 of 61) shooting for the game.
What will it take in order to get three or four guys on a shooting roll in the same game?
McNeil said it might have something to do with the inconsistencies of WVU’s schedule.
North Texas was brought in as a last-second replacement to fill a void left by Robert Morris, which was supposed to play the Mountaineers on Wednesday. The Colonials dropped out after they had some coronavirus issues within their program.
WVU has had five schedule changes through its first six games of the season.
“It’s extremely tough right now, because of COVID. You think you’re going to play here and then something gets canceled,” McNeil said. “It’s tough to get in a flow, in particular with us. We were supposed to play Wednesday and didn’t. We ended up practicing.”
Playing at home
According to WVU officials, the Dec. 11 home-opener was the longest the Mountaineers have waited to play a home game since 1944.
Because of virus protocols, only immediate family members were permitted inside the WVU Coliseum.
The official attendance was listed at 291, which did not include the hundreds of cardboard cutouts throughout the arena.
“To be honest, it kind of reminded me of being in a practice,” Culver said. “Other than the communication between the players on the court and the coaches, there really wasn’t much noise in the background. We’re kind of used to that now, but it was kind of funny seeing all of those cardboard people in the stands.”
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