MORGANTOWN - Statistically speaking, the reason West Virginia's basketball team was so good last year was that even though the Mountaineers weren't a scoring machine, they did do two things as well as almost anyone in the country - they played defense and they got offensive rebounds.
MORGANTOWN - Statistically speaking, the reason West Virginia's basketball team was so good last year was that even though the Mountaineers weren't a scoring machine, they did do two things as well as almost anyone in the country - they played defense and they got offensive rebounds.
The second of those was especially important in making up for a lack of offensive might because it created so many more opportunities to score.
As the Mountaineers head to San Juan for the Puerto Rico Shootout that begins Thursday, however, both of those strengths from a year ago are concerns now for coach Bob Huggins.
The offensive rebounding is of particular concern. The Mountaineers did it rather well in an exhibition game with UNC-Pembroke and Friday's regular-season debut against Oakland, getting 22 in the first and 16 in the second. But that's not good enough for Huggins.
"We haven't rebounded it as well offensively as we're capable of doing,'' Huggins said.
That, however, comes with a bit of an asterisk. In the 95-71 win over Oakland, the Mountaineers shot 29 3-pointers and made 12. Given all those 3-point attempts and Huggins' self-stated frustration with not being able to get the ball inside as much as he would like, shouldn't those offensive rebounding numbers naturally fall?
"That probably has something to do with it,'' Huggins said, "although we usually rebound the ball very well against a zone and you probably have a tendency to shoot deeper shots against a zone. We're just not getting to the spots that we need to get to on a consistent basis like we did a year ago. You could pretty much make book that we were going to be where we were supposed to be a year ago.''
All of which raises yet another question: Will the Mountaineers continue to attempt 3-pointers at the rate they showed in the opener? West Virginia has already matched its season high for 3-pointers a year ago after just one game.
"We're capable of making 20. We've got some guys that can shoot the ball,'' Huggins said. "What we can't do is we can't totally rely on that.''
Indeed, in the win over Oakland, West Virginia was 9-of-14 on 3-pointers in the first half while rolling up a 24-point lead and then just 3-of-15 in the second while playing to a draw.
"We shoot [64] percent in the first half and 20 percent in the second half,'' Huggins said. "There's probably going to be days when we shoot 20 percent for the game. We need to be able to score other ways.
MORGANTOWN - Statistically speaking, the reason West Virginia's basketball team was so good last year was that even though the Mountaineers weren't a scoring machine, they did do two things as well as almost anyone in the country - they played defense and they got offensive rebounds.
The second of those was especially important in making up for a lack of offensive might because it created so many more opportunities to score.
As the Mountaineers head to San Juan for the Puerto Rico Shootout that begins Thursday, however, both of those strengths from a year ago are concerns now for coach Bob Huggins.
The offensive rebounding is of particular concern. The Mountaineers did it rather well in an exhibition game with UNC-Pembroke and Friday's regular-season debut against Oakland, getting 22 in the first and 16 in the second. But that's not good enough for Huggins.
"We haven't rebounded it as well offensively as we're capable of doing,'' Huggins said.
That, however, comes with a bit of an asterisk. In the 95-71 win over Oakland, the Mountaineers shot 29 3-pointers and made 12. Given all those 3-point attempts and Huggins' self-stated frustration with not being able to get the ball inside as much as he would like, shouldn't those offensive rebounding numbers naturally fall?
"That probably has something to do with it,'' Huggins said, "although we usually rebound the ball very well against a zone and you probably have a tendency to shoot deeper shots against a zone. We're just not getting to the spots that we need to get to on a consistent basis like we did a year ago. You could pretty much make book that we were going to be where we were supposed to be a year ago.''
All of which raises yet another question: Will the Mountaineers continue to attempt 3-pointers at the rate they showed in the opener? West Virginia has already matched its season high for 3-pointers a year ago after just one game.
"We're capable of making 20. We've got some guys that can shoot the ball,'' Huggins said. "What we can't do is we can't totally rely on that.''
Indeed, in the win over Oakland, West Virginia was 9-of-14 on 3-pointers in the first half while rolling up a 24-point lead and then just 3-of-15 in the second while playing to a draw.
"We shoot [64] percent in the first half and 20 percent in the second half,'' Huggins said. "There's probably going to be days when we shoot 20 percent for the game. We need to be able to score other ways.
"I don't have any problem with shooting 3s when they're open. I kind of like watching the ball go in. But we can't rely on that. Shooting is a very inconsistent thing. That's why you have to be good in other areas.''
Like playing defense and - when those shots don't drop - getting offensive rebounds. Deniz Kilicli had six of his 10 rebounds on the offensive end in the opener, while Kevin Jones had three of his six on that end.
"We have the ability, obviously, because Kevin set the school record for offensive rebounds a year ago," Huggins said. "I think Deniz showed Friday that he can rebound the ball, we all think Danny [Jennings] can rebound the ball and John Flowers has always been a good rebounder.
"It's not that we don't have guys that can do it. They just haven't gotten where they need to be on a consistent basis.''
West Virginia's opener in the Puerto Rico Shootout is at 11:30 a.m. (EST) Thursday against Davidson in the tournament's first game at Coliseo de Puerto Rico in San Juan. It will be televised by ESPNU.Davidson is 0-1 after losing 69-64 at Penn Saturday. The Wildcats have eight lettermen and three starters back from a 16-15 team and were picked to finish third in the Southern Conference's South Division. WVU last played Davidson when Stephen Curry helped the Wildcats to a 68-65 win in the Jimmy V Classic at Madison Square Garden in 2008.
The other first-round games Thursday are Nebraska-Vanderbilt, Hofstra-North Carolina and Western Kentucky-Minnesota. West Virginia plays either the Nebraska-Vanderbilt winner or that game's loser on Friday, with the winners bracket game at 12:30 p.m. and the losers bracket contest at 3 p.m.
The finals and consolation games are Sunday.
There is still no word on anyone picking up former Mountaineer Joe Alexander, who was released by the New Orleans Hornets over the weekend. He was signed by the Hornets in late September but never played in a regular-season game.Reach Dave Hickman at 304-348-1734 or dphickm...@aol.com.
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