The Diehard Breakdown: ISU 79 WVU 59

[WvuDieHard]

WV gets blown out today in Ames for their 2nd loss of the year to Iowa State 79-59. The Mountaineers took a brief 21-19 lead before trailing the rest of the way. WV never really threatened in this game as the defense was lackluster and again the Mounties struggled to score. WV played without Brandon Watkins today who was out with a knee injury. WV also played with Devin Williams banged up with a sore hand. The other 2 WV big men, Macon and Holton combine for 8 points, 3 rebounds and 6 turnovers. Very little scoring help, outside of reserve Chase Conner, who came off the bench to keep the game from getting really ugly by hitting three 3 pointers and finishing with 9 points. Jawan Staten leads WV with 16 points.

The glaring stat line today was 19 WV turnovers. I am fairly confident to say, that this WV ball club, will never win a game in which they commit 19 turnovers. You would have to shoot the ball extremely well to overcome that type of adversity. It was a tough environment today and getting a win on a team with 21 straight home victories was unlikely; however, it was the quality of play that was most disturbing if you are a WV fan. The turnovers, the lack of good judgment on the offensive end, and just poor shooting in general are enough to warrant sending out a flare or an SOS signal. The next 6 will be just as difficult for this squad and an NCAA birth will not be given out to a team that loses 7 out 8 to finish a season. Have a great day Mountaineer fans wherever your country road has taken you!

 

[bbwvfan]

The careless protection of the ball is very troubling. The press is not creating offense, and this team cannot overcome the loss of so many possessions.

I expected a blowout today. I expect to see them blown out on Monday night.

Honestly, I am having trouble seeing this team win another game this season.

 

[WvuDieHard]

I don't expect a blowout on Monday night. There will be a sense of urgency it just may not be enough. We can beat Oklahoma State. TCU throttled them by 15 today. But 2 wins out of 6 games left would be a huge accomplishment with this group right now.

 

[bbwvfan]

I'm not hopeful. Macon has underwhelmed this year, and today may have been an all-time low. Did he get in the game in the 2nd half? As a result of injury and poor play from Holton and Macon, WVU simply doesn't have an inside presence to keep up with KU.

No offense...

No defense....

A whole lotta bad stuff going on with this team...

 

[ralphiewvu]

Credit to Iowa State for handling the press with ease. But Jesus fucking Christ why did we continue to press when it wasn't working? At some point Huggs needs to acknowledge that he is a piss poor coach when it comes to adapting. I'd be all for seeing huggs retire at the end of the year and let Harrison be the HC. This team is beyond awful on O and while D has been decent this year, anymore it seems as teams are adapting and we are struggling on that end too. Ohhh, an foul shooting is beyond piss poor.

 

[Slaton10]

The careless protection of the ball is very troubling. The press is not creating offense, and this team cannot overcome the loss of so many possessions.

I expected a blowout today. I expect to see them blown out on Monday night.

Honestly, I am having trouble seeing this team win another game this season.

 

[WVUDAD]

I'm not hopeful. Macon has underwhelmed this year, and today may have been an all-time low. Did he get in the game in the 2nd half? As a result of injury and poor play from Holton and Macon, WVU simply doesn't have an inside presence to keep up with KU.

No offense...

No defense....

A whole lotta bad stuff going on with this team...

Being a negative Nancy there, are you not? Strange to see this coming from the guy who explains away a loss to Kansas and IAST in FOOTBALL!!!!!!

 

[GoldRusher]

yea, I think the time has come to maybe freshen some legs and go away from the press for a few games and maybe just zone it up half court or something.....anything! Team is in a 2012 football style tailspin to finish the season and would struggle to win even 1 NIT game at this point.

 

[bbwvfan]

vs KU - L
@Okie St - L
vs UT - possible W
@BU - L
@ KU - L
vs Okie St - possible W

If WVU loses to UT at home, then I believe WVU will be done. The reports out of the locker room last night were not positive. Team is doubting itself… starting to bitch at each other.

There is no leadership…

 

[WvuDieHard]

Huggins came out today and started doubting the press so rest assured you are going to see something different on Monday night. My thought is that you may not see a full court press the whole game. I have stated for the last 6 games that the 1-3-1 half court trap needs to be implemented in lieu of the press as these teams have figured out how to beat it. The last 5 games have had teams shooting over 50% from the field because they are beating the press and getting easy layups. Need a new strategy quick--and it better be one that works.

 

[DCWV4life]

We have no offense and the defense is running all over the place.....doesn't matter if you press, play zone, or whatever other combination you want to run out there you will not succeed doing these things.

One thing that pisses me off about this team is not only do we shoot the ball like a bunch of blind men out there, but there is no movement on the offensive side of the ball. NONE...teams go zone and we all stand outside of that zone like we have a bunch of shooters on this squad. Then again maybe they can't move cause they have been chasing defenders all day trying to press.

The press was good at hiding some glaring stats early in the season, not that teams are beating it either because of talent or our effort you can truly see the make up of this team. I would not be shocked to see this team miss the tourney, the wins on the remaining schedule don't seem to be there. When you are looking at Texas as a W and the beat the crap out of us earlier in the season that is never a good sign.

You want to look at something horrendous check out the teams FT% by individual.....Javon Carter leading the way at 80%....to bad he has only shot 36 FT's on the season...next you have Staten at 70%...your best player is only hitting 70% of the free shots. What happened to him? I was told last year we would not miss Harris and Henderson...well gents I sure would like to have some of that offense right now.

Kansas IMO will hammer us tonight....they have length and pretty good ball handlers, but more importantly I am not sure what our strength is.....IMO this would be a huge upset if we pulled it off.

 

[WvuDieHard]

I don't expect Kansas to come in and hammer us unless Williams and Watkins can't go. We are going to play better tonight than we have been. Bank on it. Will it be enough? Don't know that answer.

 

[DCWV4life]

I don't expect Kansas to come in and hammer us unless Williams and Watkins can't go. We are going to play better tonight than we have been. Bank on it. Will it be enough? Don't know that answer.

I am not sure what about our play would lead you to think that....no inside presence, no outside presence, poor passing, bad defense. Kansas is a good solid team not sure what would have to happen for us to pull off the upset...almost a perfect night from the field shooting the ball?

 

[Anotherwvufan]

This very young team that can't shoot, Make foul shots, play offense, or play defense has somehow accumulated 19 wins. The late season slump is no surprise. As the season goes on, teams are adjusting to our press and watching film of the other teams that have beat us. Huggy needs to figure out something else that will allow us to compete.

We should make the tourney, with another 2 wins, but if we end up with a sting of 20 point losses, we may miss out.

 

[bbwvfan]

This year was supposed to be the emergence of an inside game. Holton and Macon were to give WVU depth at the 4 and 5. But, Holton cannot stay out of foul trouble. Macon has been away from the game for 2 years, Williams is hurt. Watkins is hurt.

There is no inside game.

Adrian cannot find his stroke from the outside.

I thought with the inside game, and better defenders coming to WVU... the team would not miss Harris and Henderson as their defense sucked.

Not sure they'd help WVU win the games they're losing, and I don't care. They're both gone... not sure why so many WVU fans bring them up in discussion...

 

[DCWV4life]

Not sure they'd help WVU win the games they're losing, and I don't care. They're both gone... not sure why so many WVU fans bring them up in discussion...

You really can't understand why fans would bring up two of our best offensive weapons leaving last year when watching this team on the offensive side......you are correct what is done is done they are gone, but for discussion sake still a topic.

 

[bbwvfan]

Why not mention Dibo too? He was an offensive weapon last year.

Why not question why our bigs cannot finish shots around the rim this year? Against BU, the team shot 14/40 from within 5 feet of the basket.

Why not ask why the team is turning the ball over more in recent games than earlier in the season? IMO, this is one of the main reasons WVU is struggling in losses.

I personally don't see the outside shooting of Harris and Henderson being that big of a player. WVU only won 17 games last year with them. Harris was a streaky shooter. I loved watching him when he was on... but, man... he could be cold as ice too.

He sucked in the Texas game in the Big 12 tourney. He sucked against Georgetown in the NIT. There were quite a few games he sucked on offense. And, every game... every single game... he sucked on defense.

 

[WvuDieHard]

Got to agree with BB on that one

 

[cezero]

the first one was the best

 

[DCWV4life]

Why not mention Dibo too? He was an offensive weapon last year.

Why not question why our bigs cannot finish shots around the rim this year? Against BU, the team shot 14/40 from within 5 feet of the basket.

Why not ask why the team is turning the ball over more in recent games than earlier in the season? IMO, this is one of the main reasons WVU is struggling in losses.

I personally don't see the outside shooting of Harris and Henderson being that big of a player. WVU only won 17 games last year with them. Harris was a streaky shooter. I loved watching him when he was on... but, man... he could be cold as ice too.

He sucked in the Texas game in the Big 12 tourney. He sucked against Georgetown in the NIT. There were quite a few games he sucked on offense. And, every game... every single game... he sucked on defense.

Your dreaming...Harris and Henderson is why Staten had easy lanes to basket last year...of course other reasons you mention has played into this slide no one said "Harris and Henderson is the reason for this slide", but to act like losing 2 of your top 3 scorers is no big deal is Rediculous.

Coming out strong so far...can't complain about this start.