WVU has to slow down nation’s leading scorer in matchup against UAB

MORGANTOWN — Bob Huggins has handed Kedrian Johnson a special assignment.

It’s not much, really, only to shut down the nation’s leading scorer in UAB senior guard Jordan Walker, who will walk into the Coliseum at 6 p.m. Saturday scoring 25.7 points, while also making an average of 4.3 threes each game.

So, no pressure.

“Kedy is the key,” Huggins begins.

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OK, maybe there’s a little bit of pressure on the WVU point guard, who is usually tasked with being the Mountaineers top perimeter defender.

A year ago, when the Mountaineers (7-2) traveled to Birmingham to face the Blazers (7-1), Walker was scoring just 16.4 points per game then, and Johnson held Walker in check.

He scored 13 points, but was just 6 of 20 shooting, including 1 of 9 from 3-point range and he finished with a season-high seven turnovers.

“I think Kedy can match his speed,” Huggins continued. Walker, “just runs away from people. I thought Kedy did a great job of staying on him. Kedy has the same kind of speed up and down the floor that he has.”

It’s the finale of a two-game series against UAB that began last season after the Blazers hired Andy Kennedy as their head coach.

Kennedy is a former assistant under Huggins when he was at Cincinnati.

It’s also not the typical nonconference game where WVU will be a double-digit favorite (the point spread opened with WVU favored by seven) against a school from a non-Power Five Conference.

UAB had a nine-point lead against the Mountaineers last season with 13 minutes remaining, and WVU never took the lead in the second half until the 2:38 mark in a 65-59 victory.

“They had us down and we went on a run, but again, I think a lot of that was Kedy,” Huggins said.

And so we get back to this game-inside-game and the challenge that lies ahead for Johnson.

In truth, he’ll face bigger guards — Walker is listed at 5-foot-11 — as well as guards on the draft boards of several NBA teams once Big 12 play begins later this month.

But none of them will be leading scorer in the nation.

“What we’re hoping is Kedy can do as good a job this year as he did a year ago,” Huggins said. “He’s the key for us.”

Walker enters the game having scored 87 points over his last three games, while shooting 30 of 62 (48%) from the field.

He’s reached at least 15 points in every game this season and he’s connected on at least four 3-pointers in all but one game.

There is also the notion that WVU’s overall defense has struggled this season and Johnson found himself in early foul trouble on Tuesday against Navy.

Huggins said WVU couldn’t afford to have Johnson in foul trouble in this matchup.

“I think the idea is to have speed on speed,” Huggins said. “Kedy is capable of playing at the same pace, so that makes it helpful.

“I’ll be honest, I was standing right there when Kedy got his first foul (against Navy) and I don’t know what it was. As the season wears on, they won’t be making those kinds of calls, because everyone is going to be complaining about stoppages in play.”

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