(Bob Huggins pregame Zoom conference)
Earlier this week, West Virginia discovered its second scheduled Big 12 Conference game Monday at TCU was postponed due to COVID-19 protocols within the Horned Frogs’ program.
It marks WVU’s first postponement of the 2021-2022 season, though when the Mountaineers begin Big 12 play at noon Saturday at No. 17 Texas, they will do so not at full strength, which WVU head coach Bob Huggins confirmed Friday.
“We’ve had a few [COVID complications],” Huggins said. “We have a couple that will be [out] under the COVID protocol.”
Huggins didn’t disclose who from his team would miss the matchup at the Erwin Center, one that marks West Virginia’s first game since December 22.
The Mountaineers (11-1) enter winners of eight straight, but are likely to have their hands full with the Longhorns. Texas (10-2) leads college basketball in scoring defense and is surrendering 51.2 points on average under head coach Chris Beard, who is in his first year at UT following a successful five-year stint at Texas Tech.
“Chris has always done a great job of stopping penetration,” Huggins said. “It’s not Pack Line, but they do pack a side. They pretty much try to make you play on one side of the floor and outnumber you on that side of the floor. He’s done a great job with that over the years and they’ve perfected it.
“In watching their games, they’re getting better and better defensively.”
The Longhorns have won four straight, though both of their losses came against the only two ranked teams they’ve played to this point — Gonzaga (86-74) and Seton Hall (64-60).
A heavy influx of transfers leads the way for the Longhorns, with the team’s top three scorers all in their first season at Texas. Utah transfer Timmy Allen, a 6-foot-6 forward, averages a team-high 11.9 points. Fellow forwards Tre Mitchell, a UMass transfer, and Dylan Disu, who formerly played at Vanderbilt, average 10.9 and 10.3 points, respectively. Disu missed the first eight games of the season before being medically cleared to play.
Texas has plenty of ability in its backcourt as well, with returning guards Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey combining with Minnesota transfer Marcus Carr to give Beard’s squad a talented trio on the perimeter.
Jones, Carr and Ramey each average between 8.3 and 9.3 points, while 6-7 Creighton transfer Christian Bishop is the team’s seventh-leading scorer at 7.3 points.
“They’re really talented,” Huggins said. “They have a lot of guys that can score, great size and a lot of depth. Chris did a great job in the portal.”
Carr played his freshman season at Pitt, before averaging 15.4 and 19.4 points in two seasons with the Golden Gophers. He’s not scored or shot as much at Texas, but Huggins believes the 6-2 senior fits in playing alongside Jones, Ramey and fellow guard Jase Febres.
“He’s done good things with the ball when he has the ball,” Huggins said. “He’s fit in extremely well. They have a lot of guys, and sometimes it’s hard when you have that many guys that are all close to being about the same. Those perimeter guys they have are terrific. Febres is as good a shooter as maybe there is in the country and nobody every mentions him. They have size and they’ve put together a heck of a squad.”
Huggins is hopeful his team’s defense can cause problems for Texas much like it has done for the majority of opponents to this point.
WVU has held the opposition below 60 points in six straight games and ranks No. 28 in scoring defense by allowing 59.8 points on average.
“We have to do our job and sit down and try to stay in front of them as best we possibly can and limit their number of shots,” Huggins said.
The Mountaineers may find scoring tough to come by, but they continue to heavily rely on guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil to fill that role.
Sherman entered Friday the 13th leading scorer in college basketball and second among Big 12 players at 20.9 points.
McNeil has registered double-figure scoring in 10 of the 11 games he’s played in, and is coming off a season-high 23-point performance against the Penguins.
Jalen Bridges paces the Mountaineers with a team-high 5.1 rebounding average in addition to being their third-leading scorer at 7.3 points.
Saturday’s game will air on ESPNU, and with the postponement of the TCU game, it is WVU’s only contest between December 23 and January 7. The Mountaineers welcome Kansas State for the Big 12 home opener January 8.
“It’s particularly hard for us because we can’t go jump in a bus and play. We had a two-game road trip scheduled and that’s a whole lot easier on our guys than flying out to Austin, flying home and turning around and flying back out to Fort Worth,” Huggins said. “It’s not anybody’s fault. There’s nobody to blame. That’s the way it is. We have to deal with it.”