West Virginia Prepares for Youngstown State While Challenges Loom

West Virginia looks to continue their dominance ahead of its big match-up against No. 5 Ohio State.

Ben Queen-USA TODAY Sports

Morgantown, WV – The West Virginia Mountaineers (9-1) are making its first appearance inside the Covelli Center to take on the Youngstown State Penguins (7-5). This marks the second time the Mountaineers will travel to Youngstown, OH to meet the Penguins. During the 1981-82 season, a West Virginia team that finished the season 27-4 made the trip to the Beeghly Center during the midst of a 23-game winning streak and escaped with a two-point win, 60-62.

Rarely, a power five school visits a mid-major, and in this case, West Virginia Huggins Bob Huggins explained that when it does happen, that it comes down to relationships. Youngstown State head coach Jerrod Calhoun has been with Huggins at a couple of stops, most notably as an assistant at WVU from 2007-12.

“Jerrod and I have had a great relationship for a number of years,” said Huggins. “I met Jerrod when he was coaching at AAU and he came down and was a student assistant for me at Cincinnati. And then, I helped him get the assistant job at Walsh after that. Then he obviously came here and went to Fairmont and has done a terrific job. He’s a basketball guy. He’s a good coach.”

Calhoun is in his second year at the helm following a 12-20 season and appears to be turning the program around.

Darius Quisenberry (So. G 6-1, 188) leads Youngstown State in scoring and is the only one on the team averaging double figures with 14.6 points per game. He’s been more active on the glass the last seven games, averaging 4.6 rebounds compared to 1.8 in the first five games.

Michael Akuchie (Jr. F 6-8, 218) is leading a group of three players that are hovering just over eight points per game. He recorded his first double-double (11 pts, 10 rebs) of the season against South Carolina Upstate in late November.

Garret Covington (Jr. G 6-5, 211) and Naz Bohannon (Jr. F 6-6, 228) round out the trio of eight. However, along with leading the team in rebounds (8.3), Bohannon has been in a groove the last two games, averaging 16.5 points and 8.0 rebounds. Covington is shooting 63.2% (12-19) from the field in the last three games.

Despite shooting 27.5% from behind the arc, Youngstown State is shooting an average of 23 three-pointers a game. Huggins expects them to play up-tempo and look for shots on the outside.

“I don’t think they’re shooting as many threes as they shot a year ago, but they really do try to exploit the line.”

That plays into the hands of a West Virginia defense that’s fourth in the country in three-point defense at 24%, along with ranking 11th in opponent field goal percentage (36.2%).

West Virginia had a mental lapse just two weeks ago against St John’s. After the game, Huggins said the team wasn’t ready to play and the players used that as a wake-up call. The Mountaineers can’t afford took take another hard lesson, even though the perception is they don’t have to play their best game to beat Youngstown state.

This is the first game of four consecutive road games for the Mountaineers. Next week is a huge test against fifth-ranked Ohio State inside Rocket Mortgage Arena before heading on a two-game road trip to open Big 12 Conference play at Kansas and Oklahoma State.

This isn’t necessarily a barometer game, but it can be a reference from its last perceived lesser opponent that was on a big stage inside the Madison Square Garden.

The Mountaineers went through a four-game stretch where self-infliction had them fighting for wins in the final moments until 22 turnovers against St John’s essentially woke the team up. Since then, West Virginia has imposed it’s will over Austin Peay and Nicholls State.

After six and eight-point performances, Jermaine Haley sat the bench during Nicholls State due to what Huggins described as a “coach’s decision” following the Nicholls State game. However, Huggins said “he’s been practicing well” during Thursday’s teleconference.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. is back in form after a six-point game against St. John’s, recording his first career double-double against Austin Peay.

Derek Culver has been dominant three out of the last four games averaging 17.7 points and 15 rebounds in those three games and Oscar Tshiebwe put together his first career back-to-back double-doubles in the last two games with 14.5 and 10.5 rebounds in that span.

West Virginia has struggled to shoot the ball from the outside, hitting just 31.7% from three on the season. They have been more aggressive towards the rim and feeding the ball down to its bigs, shooting 57.2% in two-point buckets the last two games. That’s nearly a 10 percent increase on their current 48.7% season average.

The Mountaineers have proven the last two games that they’re better than the team they put on the floor in New York. Now, it’s the last opportunity to improve in preparation for Ohio State and the Big 12. 

West Virginia and Youngstown State will tip-off at 1:00 pm. Although the game is not being broadcasted on television or a video streaming service, you can listen to play by play with Tony Caridi and Jay Jacobs on your local radio affiliate or stream the audio at WVUSports.com

Game notes provided by the WVU athletic department

• West Virginia moved back in the AP poll this week with a No. 25 ranking. West Virginia has now been ranked at least one week in 10 of Bob Huggins’ 13 seasons at WVU. 
• The Mountaineers have been ranked 100 weeks in the AP poll under Bob Huggins, including 37 weeks in the AP Top 10. Huggins has had WVU ranked more weeks than any other coach in school history.
• West Virginia has been ranked 120 weeks since Jan. 3, 2005, in the AP poll, and 234 weeks total in school history.
• WVU’s 234 appearances in the AP poll ranks 41st all-time in NCAA history for most AP poll appearances. 
• In the first NET rankings released this week by the NCAA, WVU checked in at No. 12 with a No. 9 strength of schedule.
• In the latest NCAA statistics, WVU ranks fifth in offensive rebounds per game (15.0), fourth in 3-point FG% defense (24.0), 11th in FG% defense (36.2) and ninth in rebounds per game (43.2). 
• Derek Culver (9.6) and Oscar Tshiebwe (9.5) rank first and second, respectively, in Big 12 Conference rebounding.