As the Christmas holiday is over West Virginia’s sights are fully set on Big 12 play. If they want to not have a repeat performance of last year however, they will have to flush their previous two performances before they head to Kansas State on Dec. 31.
Breaks can be good, but they can also be bad. For the Mountaineers it is hard to imagine the time off will not help them. Heading into their four-day break, West Virginia face Buffalo and Stony Brook. The Mountaineers led by one point against Buffalo well into the second half before pulling away and then followed that performance up with just an 11-point win over Stony Brook.
“We don’t pass the ball to open guys. We give up straight line drives. We don’t rebound the ball. We foul excessively when even the officials tell them, ‘stop fouling and I’ll stop blowing the whistle,'” West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins said. “You play that bad and you’re more excited about going home than you are getting better, you probably ought to stay home.”
Huggins’ frustration was warranted, as his team did not put a stamp on what was a strong showing in West Virginia’s non-conference portion of their schedule.
West Virginia sits at 10-2, but the Mountaineers limped their way into the break. Not only were the Mountianeers without fifth–year forward Emmitt Matthews who is dealing with a left knee injury, but Huggins’ squad did not play their best basketball.
This season West Virginia is shooting 49% from the field. In their most recent game against Stony Brook, West Virginia shot 41.8% from the field — which was their second-lowest mark of the season. In the game against Buffalo, turnovers were the problem for West Virginia, as they turned the ball over 14 times, third-most out of their 12 games this season.
“This is called a trap game, that one game before Christmas,” guard Joe Toussaint said. “No disrespect to [Stony Brook] but you play a low-major team and it’s a trap. It’s to test where your mind is, to test where you’re at as a team. It was ugly, it wasn’t pretty, but I’m glad we came out second half strong and we won the game. It wasn’t pretty at all, we definitely have to tighten up on a lot of things.”
The Mountaineers’ focus obviously was not there and Toussaint says they realized it.
“I think everybody is just ready to go home and see their families. I think after we see our families I think we’re going to regroup, lock in, come back with a better mindset,” Toussaint said after the win against Stony Brook. “We’re going to come back, regroup and I promise we’ll be better next game. Promise.”
Part of what made Huggins upset was West Virginia’s inability to defend without fouling. The Mountaineers committed 16 personal fouls, while Stony Brook was perfect from the free throw line.
“[Stony Brook’s] 15 for 15 at the foul line and we continue to foul them,” Huggins said. “And it wasn’t good plays. It was, their guy beat them to the ball so they ran in to him from behind and tried to knock the ball out of his hand, like they’re not going to call that a foul.”
At this time last year, there was the same kind of start from West Virginia. Last year’s team started the season 11-1 but would then only win five more games the rest of the season, including just four games in Big 12 play. This week West Virginia hits the road to begin Big 12 play, and fifth-year senior Erik Stevenson knows the difficulties of this league and having to come ready to play every night.
“I’m always telling guys to lock in, always telling guys to be focused and we just weren’t,” Stevenson said. “Two bad performances back-to-back in my opinion, and if we do that in our next two games, we’ll be coming back here 0-2 in Big 12 play.”
Stevenson said West Virginia’s play in their final two games of non-conference play will be a good thing, adding he believes the break will help the Mountaineers re-discover their form.
“I think it’s good for us though a little bit. It kind of humbles us a little bit,” Stevenson said. “We know what we need to work on, it’s just a matter of going out there and working at it… We’re going to go home, we’re going to see our family for a bit, we’re going to regroup and we’re gong to come back and win the Big 12.”
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
