Preparation Helps Point Guard Jordan McCabe Take On Leadership Role for WVU

From the moment Jordan McCabe stepped onto West Virginia’s campus in 2018, he wanted two things; the play sheet coach Bob Huggins uses during games and a DVD with all the team’s plays that he could watch at home.

“I went through them all and learned the offense as well as I could have,” McCabe told reporters Friday. “[I] tried to just be an extension of Huggs.”

McCabe said he felt like it was his role as a point guard to know WVU’s system as best he could and to move into a leadership position as soon as possible.

“I knew that was my role, I’m a point guard and I want to be as pure a point guard as I can possibly be,” McCabe said.

Last season, Huggins would talk about senior guard Chase Harler as somewhat of an on-court-coach, helping WVU’s other players just by being out there with them. This year, Huggins has been describing McCabe in much the same way.

“Jordan gives us a steadying influence and he knows the system inside and out,” Huggins said. “He helps other guys, in that regard, tremendously.”

McCabe said taking on that role on the on-court-coach was not something he deliberately set out to do, but rather happened naturally through his work over the past two seasons.

“I don’t know if it’s a deliberate role that I’ve taken over,” McCabe said. “Taking over a leadership position is something that I’ve been trying to work on and hone for the past two years of my career. ”

McCabe’s role on the team has changed since the Mountaineers have come back from their two-week COVID pause. McCabe was averaging just 5.1 minutes per game before then but has logged 23 and 24 minutes in the two games since, making his first two starts of the season.

“I watch film with [graduate assistant] Juwan Staten on an almost daily basis now to break things down,” McCabe said. “Now with my minutes being in a different situation than the beginning of the season, my impact can be greater.”

In those two games with increased minutes, McCabe is averaging nine points, 2.5 rebounds, 3.5 assists and 1.5 steals while shooting 44.4% from the floor and 50% from 3. While a small sample size, all of those numbers would be career-bests for the Wisconsin native.