WVU Still Recovering from COVID Pause: ‘We’ve Got to Get These Guys Back in Playing Shape’

While neither game was particularly pretty, the West Virginia University men’s basketball team is now 2-0 since coming back from its two-week COVID pause. The No. 11 Mountaineers were shut down from Monday, Jan. 11 through Friday, Jan. 22. During the pause, the team had as few as four players available to practice at times according to coach Bob Huggins.

WVU finally returned to action last Saturday, scoring a 22-point victory at Kansas State and then turned around to upset No. 10 Texas Tech in the Coliseum on Monday. After both games, Huggins stressed the importance of his team getting back into proper game shape.

“We’ve got kind of get it going again, get guys back in shape,” Huggins said Monday. “We’re not in very good shape, we struggled with wind, lot of our guys we had to substitute just because they were out of wind.  You go 14, 15 days [without playing] and then you run up and down [the court] and you’re going to be tired.”

WATCH: Bob Huggins Postgame Reaction

Huggins said WVU’s forwards were hurt the most by the time off. Notably, usual starters Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Derek Culver both played fewer minutes than usual in the two games since coming back.

“I think the time off hurt our post guys more than it hurt anybody,” Huggins said. “Emmitt gave us great minutes and he’s lost 18 pounds, I believe. We’ve got to get him some weight back and some strength back.”

Matthews had started all 13 games for the Mountaineers before the break, averaging 22.7 minutes per game. He started both games since on the bench and played just 30 minutes across both contests.

Culver had an awful return, logging just eight points and four rebounds before fouling out of Saturday’s game after 21 minutes. He rebounded a bit Monday with 10 points and nine rebounds but still only played 19 minutes.

“We’ve got to get those guys back in playing shape and that’s tough to do with the schedule that we’ve got coming up,” Huggins said Saturday. “And you lose your touch. Derek was really frustrated because he’s scored it so well around the rim and he couldn’t make one and couldn’t make a free throw. He’s too valuable to us not to score the ball better than what he did today.”

WVU will luckily have a few days off after defeating the Red Raiders, with the Mountaineers’ next game scheduled for Saturday, Jan. 30 against the Florida Gators. WVU and UF will tip-off as part of the SEC/Big 12 Challenge at 2 p.m. Saturday in Morgantown. The game will be broadcast on ESPN and it will be the first time this season that fans will be allowed inside the Coliseum.