Takeaways: Someone Needs to Help Sherman with Scoring

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Following a 74-55 win over Bellarmine, WVU head coach Bob Huggins stated that guard Taz Sherman needs some scoring support.

“Offensively, we probably rely on Taz too much,” Huggins said. “I’m all for him getting 25-30 [points] a game, but we need some other guys to step up and score it a little bit for us as well. I think we’re starting to get that, but we’ve got to continue to get better at that.”

So far in the first seven games, Sherman has led the Mountaineers in scoring five times.

Jalen Bridges (Pitt) and Sean McNeil (Clemson) have been the only other players to lead WVU in scoring in games where Sherman wasn’t the leading scorer.

There’s going to be a time where Sherman isn’t having a good game, scoring-wise, and someone is going to need to step up offensively and take over.

Who will that person be?

It could be McNeil, Bridges or Malik Curry.

Rebounding is Progressively Improving

Just three weeks ago, Oakland and Pitt were out-rebounding West Virginia by double-digits. Former forward Oscar Tshiebwe, in his time with Kentucky, was rebounding as much as the Mountaineers were. Now, West Virginia’s practice of rebounding and boxing out is looking like it’s improving.

WVU out-rebounded Bellarmine 41-31.

They may not be destroying teams on the boards, but West Virginia is at least fighting for a chance at the rebounding battle.

The Mountaineers did show the same struggles still against Bellarmine on one particular possession. The Knights shot the ball three times in one possession, which included the first two shots being rebounded by the shooter of the shot. The third shot was a wide-open layup.

Other than that, WVU did well on the boards on Tuesday, getting 18 offensive rebounds.

Coaching Staff Blames Themselves on Managing Rotation

In non-conference play against mid and low-majors, coaches like to give their young guys a chance to check into the game and perform in-front of fans, rather than an empty gym for practice.

So far, Isaiah Cottrell and freshmen guards Kobe Johnson and Seth Wilson are the only rotation players out of the young players to play. Cottrell has started 7-of-7 games for West Virginia. Johnson has appeared in seven games off the bench, while Wilson has appeared in four.

Huggins and his coaching staff has wanted to get Seny N’Diaye, Taj Thweatt and Jamel King out on the court before Big 12 play.

Huggins mentioned that the staff is loving the way N’Diaye is developing but it’s just hard for him to transition the practice play to when the games matter.

“We’ve got to get him better and you know, that’s on us,” Huggins said. “He’s willing [to get better]. We just got to get them better.”

The staff will get another shot at getting the young guys in when Radford comes to play the Mountaineers at the WVU Coliseum, on Saturday. ESPN+ will broadcast the games tarting at 4 p.m.

(Top Photo: Julia Mellett / WVSN)