MORGANTOWN — It can get easy to take Gabe Osabuohien’s hustle for granted once you’ve seen it enough times.
Whether it’s him putting his body in harm’s way to draw an offensive foul or throwing his body around on defense to chase after a smaller guard to go for a steal, the 6-foot-7 senior forward has made a habit of being West Virginia’s effort guy on the floor.
The same is not true when you are on the outside looking in on the Mountaineers’ program.
When you are the opposing coach scouting WVU from hundreds of miles away from Morgantown, Osabuohien’s determination is appreciated maybe even at a higher level.
“I tell our guys we need a Gabe Osabuohien,” Oklahoma State head coach Mike Boynton Jr. said Tuesday night after WVU’s 70-60 victory over the Cowboys. “That’s not a knock on any of our guys. All great teams have somebody like that who every now and then may jump up and have a game where they score, but they don’t place a high value on that personally because they know other guys are capable of doing that. They embrace the dirty work and blue-collar mentality.”
West Virginia players woke up Wednesday morning finding themselves in a three-way tie for third place and just a half game back of both Texas and Baylor for first place in the Big 12.
The Mountaineers (13-2, 2-1 Big 12) will have the opportunity to make a major statement Saturday, when they travel to No. 9 Kansas (13-2, 2-1).
That blue-collar mentality of Osabuohien continues to be a main reason why WVU finds itself in this situation.
Against Oklahoma State, Osabuohien added some scoring, too. He scored nine consecutive points at one point in the first half. By the end, Osabuohien had 12 points and eight rebounds in 18 minutes of work.
He added two steals, a blocked shot and an assist, in which he held onto the ball for an extra second in order for Jalen Bridges to work around a screen along the baseline for a wide-open dunk.
“It’s an added bonus with all of the great things he does on the floor,” Bridges said. “A lot of the time, what he does doesn’t show up on the stat sheet. Him providing an extra boost on offense, it makes the game a lot easier.”
Among Oklahoma State’s 17 turnovers were two offensive fouls drawn by Osabuohien, and one of his two steals came when Avery Anderson was driving to the basket and Osabuohien simply reached out and took the ball right out of Anderson’s hands.
“I felt comfortable,” Osabuohien said. “I was just playing basketball. I made my free throws. Once you see the ball go in a couple of times, it makes things easier.”
There is a flip side to Osabuohien’s hustle, the side that forces WVU head coach Bob Huggins to manage how much time his forward stays on the floor.
Three of Osabuohien’s four fouls on Tuesday came in just nine minutes of action in the second half, most of them coming while trying to swipe away at an opponent to force a loose ball.
“That’s what I’m saying, he does so many good things, but he just has to stop doing the dumb things,” Huggins said. “The smacking at people and the reaching. There’s times where he does a great job at closing and trapping people, but then he’ll over-trap. He thinks it’s fun, though. It makes it a little harder to mend what he thinks is fun.”
While Osabuhien is having “fun,” Huggins worries about his forward going overboard and picking up unnecessary fouls that saddle him to the bench at crunch time.
“You can’t foul when your team depends on you so much,” Huggins said. “The game changes when he comes in the game. He’s terrific at taking charges and getting where he needs to get to be able to do that.
“When he doesn’t slap at the ball or reach over to slap at it, he’s very effective at getting balls loose. He needs to stop getting into foul trouble. He had four fouls again today. We need him at the end of the game. There’s going to be games where we’re going to need him the entire second half.”
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