No. 10 West Virginia Plans to Lean on Veterans As Postseason Gets Started

Experience is one of those things in life that cannot be taught, only earned. As it sits right now, experience is what the West Virginia University men’s basketball team is lacking the most heading into postseason play. WVU coach Bob Huggins said having that experience is important because of how different postseason play is to the regular season.

“[It’s different] because it’s one-and-done,” Huggins said. “You lose, you’re done. You can’t come out and be flat, you’ve got to bring your best game every time out. Otherwise, you’re back home watching it on TV.”

Only four current Mountaineers have ever played in a conference tournament before and only one has ever played in the NCAA tournament; juniors Jordan McCabe, Emmitt Matthews and Derek Culver and senior Gabe Osabuohein.

“We just really have to look to them,” freshman Jalen Bridges said Tuesday. “They’re the ones that have been here and done that. We’re just new to the party so it’s going to be important that those guys keep a positive mindset no matter what’s going on and we stay together.”

McCabe, Matthews and Culver were on the WVU team that went on an unlikely run in the 2018-19 Big 12 tournament, upsetting Oklahoma and Texas Tech before losing in the semifinal round to Kansas. That team went on to play in the CBI, defeating Grand Canyon and being knocked out by Coastal Carolina. Despite all being true freshmen, the trio logged considerable minutes that postseason. McCabe and Matthews both averaged more than 30 minutes in those five games and Culver averaged 22.8.

Osabuohien’s experience comes from his two seasons with Arkansas. In 2017-18, the Razorbacks won two games in the SEC tournament before being knocked out of the first round of the NCAA tournament by Butler. The next season, Arkansas lost in the first round of the SEC tournament and went on to win one game in the NIT.

“I think we’re going to try and reach out to everybody [with experience] and everybody’s going to play a huge part, especially those with more experience,” sophomore Miles “Deuce” McBride said. “As younger guys, we’ve got to listen to them. When it’s a player that’s done it before, I think it’s easier to talk to them than maybe a coach or somebody on the staff.”

Because conference and national tournaments were all canceled last season due to coronavirus, that is all the post-season playing experience currently on the WVU roster. The one-and-done game Osabuohien played with Arkansas in 2017-18 is the only NCAA tournament experience any current Mountaineers has. Culver said even the Mountaineers who played with the team last year will still need some guidance heading into postseason play.

“You always want to make the new guys feel comfortable, even though they’re not really news guys because they’ve been here a whole season,” Culver said. “But they’re new to the postseason so you just have to tell them to keep their emotions calm and cool and let the game come to you. Don’t try to play out of your game just because you’re on a certain stage.”

WVU’s postseason play begins with a rematch against Oklahoma State Thursday in the Big 12 Tournament. The teams will tip-off at 11:30 a.m. EST Thursday morning from Kansas City and the game will be broadcast on ESPN or ESPN2.