WVU ventures to No. 15 TCU tonight
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MORGANTOWN -- It came out of the clouds, really, this sudden revival of West Virginia's basketball fortunes.
Two weeks ago, the Mountaineers had lost five straight games to open the Big 12 season 0-5. Erik Stevenson, whom they had leaned on so heavily during a 10-2 start, was off his feed and awaiting them in the Coliseum was a red-hot TCU team ranked 14th in the nation and coached by Bob Huggins' old nemesis from Pitt, Jamie Dixon.
They say it's darkest before the dawn and it was, but all of a sudden the sun broke through and the Mountaineers flexed their muscles, got physical with the Horned Frogs, pulled off the upset, 74-65, and have gone on to win three of four.
And now they start all over as the second go-round of the Big 12's round-robin scheduling begins in Fort Worth at 9 p.m. today on ESPNU with Dixon and No. 15 TCU looking to gain revenge at home in what figures to be another game that will have bodies flying everywhere.
While the revenge factor is on TCU's side, the plus/minus factor is on WVU's as the Mountaineers figure to be able to count far more on Stevenson. In the first meeting Stevenson had nine points on 3 of 10 shooting, 1 of 5 from 3.
On Saturday, however, the senior transfer put it all together with a career-high-smashing 31 points against Auburn and that gives WVU a dimension it didn't have in that victory in Morgantown.
Meanwhile, TCU is almost certainly without its star player, the flashing Mike Miles, who laid 21 points on them in the first meeting.
On Saturday, in the SEC-Big 12 Challenge, Miles went down early with a hyperextended knee and while the damage will not require surgery, it did require an MRI and he is almost certain to miss this one.
"I don't think it changes things very much," Huggins said. "They've got multiple guys who make shots. When Miles has a bad day, they have a lot of people who are very capable of stepping up. They have at least three or four guys who are really good shooters and a couple of guys who handle the ball well.
"Obviously they are going to miss him, but they have guys who can step up."
Miles is second in scoring in the Big 12 at 19.1 points per game.
WVU has its own injury problems. Point guard Keddy Johnson has been banged up, according to Huggins.
"He hasn't been what he was early on," Huggins admitted.
But with him playing and with Stevenson back, Joe Toussaint carrying a big load and Seth Wilson ready to go in to make shots, the guard position is in good hands.
The fact is that with or without Miles in for TCU, this is a big man's game.
The first game saw Jimmy Bell Jr. emerge down low against one of the Big 12's better centers in Eddie Lampkin, totally dominating him.
Bell pounded out a double-double with 15 points and 12 rebounds while Lampkin scored but five points with three rebounds.
"I had a little motivation before the game," Bell admitted. "I had people texting me and telling me they had the best big guy in the league. I just took it personal."
Bell has built on that performance and most recently scored 15 points with seven rebounds in the victory over Auburn.
"I always thought Jimmy could score that well," Huggins stressed after Saturday's game. "It was other people who said, 'He's not going to be able to score for you.' You've got a body like that, shoulders that are that wide, all you have to do is be able to look at the rim and you are going to score some points."
The strategy in the game will prove interesting as both Dixon and Huggins will make adjustments the second time around.
"I'm sure they are going to adjust because we doubled all the ball screens and Jamie made mention of it a couple of times in interviews," Huggins said. "We're at the point where we're pretty good at what we do, so we'll probably do what we do.
"You do what you're good at. You practiced it all year."