MORGANTOWN — West Virginia’s lack of a defense in the paint is not to be blamed on the absence of center Sagaba Konate.
West Virginia’s 6-foot-8 center has missed two consecutive games with a right knee injury and the Mountaineers have given up a combined 76 points in the paint in that time.
Instead of a lack of a shot blocker in the middle, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins is looking at his guards to be in better position when the Mountaineers release a shot.
“It’s primarily because, our offensive balance is so bad,” Huggins said. “One guard would drive and the other guard would run in like he was going to rebound. We gave away too many easy baskets.”
That was after the Mountaineers’ 83-70 loss against Rhode island, in which the Rams scored 44 points in the paint.
It didn’t improve much in last week’s 74-72 victory against Jacksonville State, in which the Gamecocks outscored the Mountaineers, 32-16, in the paint.
“That’s something we’ve been pretty good at is not giving up easy baskets,” Huggins said.
The return of 6-foot-10 forward Derek Culver, who came off suspension in time to play against Jacksonville State won’t exactly fix the problem, either, Huggins said.
“Not unless Derek can run by the guards and get back,” Huggins said. “They haven’t thrown the ball in close and scored. They just beat us down the floor. Our balance is bad. We had a guard standing in the corner and one running in to rebound and there is no one getting back, because the bigs have to stay in to rebound. I don’t want Derek running back. I want him to rebound.”
Turnovers and assists
West Virginia (7-4) will enter Sunday’s game against Lehigh (7-3), which is off to its best start since the 2012-13 season, last in the Big 12 in turnovers committed (177) and ninth in assist-to-turnover ratio.
West Virginia’s ratio is 0.9, meaning it has less than one assist per every turnover.
“I think we have two guys who have more assists than turnovers on the whole team and they’re only by a couple,” Huggins said. “That’s not very good.”
WVU has 163 assists, which is fourth in the Big 12, but it’s 177 turnovers are eight more than ninth-place Oklahoma State.
Of the six players who play 20 or more minutes per game, Lamont West (13 to 11), Chase Harler (14 to 8) and Beetle Bolden (29 to 23) have more assists than turnovers.
Regular rotation
Maybe the topper to Huggins’ frustrations is the lack of player availability to create a constant rotation.
Konate has missed three of the first 11 games and point guard Beetle Bolden has missed two. Culver missed the first 10, because of his suspension for a violation of team rules.
“Honestly, it was easier [last season] when Esa missed the first 16 games [due to an NCAA suspension], because you knew he wasn’t going to be there and so you could prepare other things,” Huggins said. “The hard thing now is: Who is going to be there that day? When you start to put together a game plan, it’s nice to know which guys are going to be there. That’s not an excuse. That’s reality.
“When we get a more consistent rotation, it will start to become easier.”
Players who have played in every game have also not been consistent.
Senior forward Esa Ahmad was benched after four minutes against Jacksonville State, because of inconsistent play. Huggins has not been pleased with Brandon Knapper’s inconsistent play as a backup point guard.
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