Whatever happens next, beginning with Friday night?s regular-season finale against streaking Iowa State, depends on what?s happened already. How much did February take out of No. 10 West Virginia?
?It?s the end of the season. Your legs are tired. I?m not saying there?s nothing left, but it wears on you,? said forward Nathan Adrian, one of five seniors who plays at the Coliseum for the last time in the 7 p.m. ESPN2 game. ?It?s hard playing how we play to shoot a good percentage. Your legs are a giant part of that. It?s what we do to opponents.?
The Mountaineers (23-7, 11-6 Big 12), who only clinch the No. 2 seed in next week?s Big 12 tournament by ending the Cyclones? six-game winning streak, played eight games in February and won five ? and were one made shot by TCU and Texas Tech away from being at or below .500 in the month.
It wasn?t the most active month of the season. WVU played nine games in January, but that month has three more days, and the Mountaineers didn?t play for the first three days of February. What they did do was end January by winning a 9 p.m. game at Iowa State (20-9, 12-5) and then play two more road games with 9 p.m. starts and two home games before Valentine?s Day.
A loss to Kansas came in overtime and saw a demoralized WVU lose a 14-point lead with 2:48 left in regulation. A win against Texas Tech required two overtimes. The season?s three lowest point totals and shooting percentages came in February.
?To think that the travel doesn?t affect us, you wouldn?t be being very honest with yourself,? coach Bob Huggins said. ?We have to find ways to win sometimes when we?re not at our best.?
This is where the Mountaineers have struggled.
On Feb. 1, after 22 games and 10 Big 12 contests, they were scoring 87.6 points per game, which ranked No. 7 nationally. They were shooting 47.8 percent from the floor (No. 38) and 36.7 percent from 3-point range (No. 101).
Today, they?re averaging 83.7 points (No. 15) and shooting 46.4 percent overall (No. 79) and 35.8 percent from 3-point range (No. 139).
?We haven?t shot the ball,? Huggins said, ?but we haven?t passed the ball, either.?
Those are sizable slides, and it?s significant because of one remarkable reality: The other teams are performing virtually the same.
Opponents were shooting 42.3 percent a month ago. It?s 42.4 percent today. They were shooting 34 percent from 3-point range and are up to 35.2 now. They were scoring 65.8 points per game and average 66.5 now ? and remember Kansas and Texas Tech played a total of 15 extra minutes to score more and skew that stat.
It?s not like opponents are playing at an unusually high level. It?s that WVU isn?t at its former level. So if the opposition is the same, then the Mountaineers are different, but why?
They stubbornly accept that the travel adds up, and it?s certainly relevant that Adrian confessed shooters are losing their legs, but they don?t believe they make matters worse with their practices and their pressure defense. In fact, Huggins chose to lighten up practices last month, and he?s even scaled back the pressure in games.
?We?re conditioned to play like this,? Adrian said.
The Mountaineers have a few justifications beyond the travel. For starters, Huggins isn?t joking when he says he needs to teach his players how to get fouled. Opponents made 162 of 221 free-throw attempts in February. The Mountaineers actually jumped from 65.7 percent at the line on Feb. 1 to 68.1 today, but they were only 120 for 159 last month ? meaning opponents made more free throws than WVU attempted.
A greater issue has been the roster. Adrian has been dealing with a family medical situation since the Feb. 8 win at Oklahoma, and Huggins said ?it?s weighing on him a lot.? Guard Dax Miles missed a game with an ankle injury. Forward Esa Ahmad, the team?s second-leading scorer, missed the last three games with a back injury, and WVU has needed his length, his scoring and most notably his passing.
?He?s better than the rest of them,? Huggins said.
Ahmad practiced Wednesday and Thursday and should play Friday night as long as his back behaves.
?Every time somebody subbed for him, I?d tell them to leave him in,? Huggins said of Thursday?s practice. ?I wanted to see if he could go. He got through it. He wasn?t in the best of shape at the end, but he got through it.?
Ahmad has started all 61 games he?s played, but Huggins didn?t know if Ahmad would start or if WVU would continue with Adrian and Elijah Macon at forward and a three-guard lineup with Miles, Tarik Phillip and Jevon Carter. All Huggins knew was the team welcomed the 6-foot-8 Ahmad?s return.
?The problem without having him in the lineup is if Nate shoots it, there?s one guy to rebound. If Elijah shoots it, there?s one guy to rebound,? Huggins said. ?At least when we?ve got [Ahmad] in there, there?s two. Dax thinks he?s going to catch some kind of disease inside that 3-point line. Tarik hasn?t rebounded the way he?s rebounded in the past. We need Esa on the glass.?
?It?s the end of the season. Your legs are tired. I?m not saying there?s nothing left, but it wears on you,? said forward Nathan Adrian, one of five seniors who plays at the Coliseum for the last time in the 7 p.m. ESPN2 game. ?It?s hard playing how we play to shoot a good percentage. Your legs are a giant part of that. It?s what we do to opponents.?
The Mountaineers (23-7, 11-6 Big 12), who only clinch the No. 2 seed in next week?s Big 12 tournament by ending the Cyclones? six-game winning streak, played eight games in February and won five ? and were one made shot by TCU and Texas Tech away from being at or below .500 in the month.
It wasn?t the most active month of the season. WVU played nine games in January, but that month has three more days, and the Mountaineers didn?t play for the first three days of February. What they did do was end January by winning a 9 p.m. game at Iowa State (20-9, 12-5) and then play two more road games with 9 p.m. starts and two home games before Valentine?s Day.
A loss to Kansas came in overtime and saw a demoralized WVU lose a 14-point lead with 2:48 left in regulation. A win against Texas Tech required two overtimes. The season?s three lowest point totals and shooting percentages came in February.
?To think that the travel doesn?t affect us, you wouldn?t be being very honest with yourself,? coach Bob Huggins said. ?We have to find ways to win sometimes when we?re not at our best.?
This is where the Mountaineers have struggled.
On Feb. 1, after 22 games and 10 Big 12 contests, they were scoring 87.6 points per game, which ranked No. 7 nationally. They were shooting 47.8 percent from the floor (No. 38) and 36.7 percent from 3-point range (No. 101).
Today, they?re averaging 83.7 points (No. 15) and shooting 46.4 percent overall (No. 79) and 35.8 percent from 3-point range (No. 139).
?We haven?t shot the ball,? Huggins said, ?but we haven?t passed the ball, either.?
Those are sizable slides, and it?s significant because of one remarkable reality: The other teams are performing virtually the same.
Opponents were shooting 42.3 percent a month ago. It?s 42.4 percent today. They were shooting 34 percent from 3-point range and are up to 35.2 now. They were scoring 65.8 points per game and average 66.5 now ? and remember Kansas and Texas Tech played a total of 15 extra minutes to score more and skew that stat.
It?s not like opponents are playing at an unusually high level. It?s that WVU isn?t at its former level. So if the opposition is the same, then the Mountaineers are different, but why?
They stubbornly accept that the travel adds up, and it?s certainly relevant that Adrian confessed shooters are losing their legs, but they don?t believe they make matters worse with their practices and their pressure defense. In fact, Huggins chose to lighten up practices last month, and he?s even scaled back the pressure in games.
?We?re conditioned to play like this,? Adrian said.
The Mountaineers have a few justifications beyond the travel. For starters, Huggins isn?t joking when he says he needs to teach his players how to get fouled. Opponents made 162 of 221 free-throw attempts in February. The Mountaineers actually jumped from 65.7 percent at the line on Feb. 1 to 68.1 today, but they were only 120 for 159 last month ? meaning opponents made more free throws than WVU attempted.
A greater issue has been the roster. Adrian has been dealing with a family medical situation since the Feb. 8 win at Oklahoma, and Huggins said ?it?s weighing on him a lot.? Guard Dax Miles missed a game with an ankle injury. Forward Esa Ahmad, the team?s second-leading scorer, missed the last three games with a back injury, and WVU has needed his length, his scoring and most notably his passing.
?He?s better than the rest of them,? Huggins said.
Ahmad practiced Wednesday and Thursday and should play Friday night as long as his back behaves.
?Every time somebody subbed for him, I?d tell them to leave him in,? Huggins said of Thursday?s practice. ?I wanted to see if he could go. He got through it. He wasn?t in the best of shape at the end, but he got through it.?
Ahmad has started all 61 games he?s played, but Huggins didn?t know if Ahmad would start or if WVU would continue with Adrian and Elijah Macon at forward and a three-guard lineup with Miles, Tarik Phillip and Jevon Carter. All Huggins knew was the team welcomed the 6-foot-8 Ahmad?s return.
?The problem without having him in the lineup is if Nate shoots it, there?s one guy to rebound. If Elijah shoots it, there?s one guy to rebound,? Huggins said. ?At least when we?ve got [Ahmad] in there, there?s two. Dax thinks he?s going to catch some kind of disease inside that 3-point line. Tarik hasn?t rebounded the way he?s rebounded in the past. We need Esa on the glass.?
