MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — On his way to talk to the media Tuesday, Jermaine Haley stopped and swished a hook shot from just inside half-court.
“Did you see that?” the West Virginia junior guard said.
The Mountaineers would like to see more of it, as defensively-challenged WVU hosts the Big 12’s highest-scoring team in Iowa State, at 7 p.m. Wednesday.
“They’re really good offensively,” Bob Huggins said of the Cyclones (20-9, 9-7 Big 12). “They’ve got eight or 10 guys who can really score the ball. They’re great in transition. I think they’re as talented as anyone in our league.”
Iowa State’s offensive talent leads to 78 points per game and more runs than Usain Bolt.
“They are by far one of the most talented teams we’ve played so far,” said Haley, who has scored 54 points over his last three games. “We’ve just got to prepare. It’s a mental thing in getting ready for them. You have to know who to close out hard on and things like that.”
Defending runs has not been a strong point for the Mountaineers (11-18, 3-13), who are coming off a 92-80 road loss against Oklahoma, in which the Sooners closed out the first half on a 13-1 run that was the difference in the game.
In Iowa State’s 93-68 win against WVU on Jan. 30, the Cyclones had a similar 18-6 run to close out the first half.
That momentum carried into a lot of second-half frustration for West Virginia. First, former forward Esa Ahmad fouled out and then Huggins was ejected from the game with 3:28 remaining.
Much has changed for the Mountaineers since that setback. The dismissals of Ahmad and forward Wes Harris make WVU a much younger team with three juniors, one sophomore and five freshmen on scholarship.
West Virginia’s Senior Night will only exist to honor some student managers.
Answering a Cyclones’ run, though, is still very much in place.
“I don’t think it’s any secret that we’re thin on the frontline,” Huggins said. “We can’t run offense nearly as efficiently with somebody, be it Derek [Culver] or be it with Drew [Gordon]. We’re not as crisp. We don’t pass it as well. There’s a lot of things.”
If West Virginia can’t go bucket-for-bucket with the Cyclones, it then becomes a matter of using defense to shut them down.
“Defense is a lot of things,” Huggins continued. “We’re probably not as good in transition defense with a big lineup. We should be a better rebounding team — should be — so you limit their second opportunities.”
It makes finding the answer to runs a difficult task for the Mountaineers.
“In the moment, when we talk as a group on the floor, we know what’s causing the runs,” Haley said. “Turnovers are a big part. We tell each other to take care of the ball. We try not to get down on each other. We know we have limited guys right now, so we have to be connected and really strong as a group.”
Note
Iowa State point guard Nick Weiler-Babb bruised his knee in last week’s loss against Texas and may sit out today.
“According to our crack sports information director, it’s a game-time decision,” Huggins said of Weiler-Babb.
His replacement would likely be sophomore Lindell Wigginton, who scored a season-high 28 points off the bench in the first meeting against WVU.
TWITTER @bigjax3211
