February 4, 2015

Coach Bob Huggins and his No. 15 Mountaineers are still trying to extract a pungent taste of discouragement after its forgettable showing Tuesday night. No. 21 Oklahoma—the same team West Virginia beat by 21 points in January—was the first group to make Huggins’ press look inadequate all season long and left the cupboard of positive takeaways looking scarce.

The team did have to play without its star forward, Devin Williams, which proved to be a serious problem as forwards Brandon Watkins, Nathan Adrian, Jonathan Holton, Elijah Macon and BillyDee Williams all struggled.

Without Devin Williams as an inside threat, the Mountaineers couldn’t keep up with Oklahoma’s size underneath, nor could they compensate from the perimeter, shooting only 19.2 percent from behind the arc as opposed to Oklahoma’s 54.5 percent.

As the Mountaineers regroup this morning, two glaring issues are impossible to ignore: they need Devin Williams on the court and better perimeter shooting if they have any hope of staying in contention for a conference title.

Granted, the Sooners are better than their record shows, as they’ve played arguably the toughest schedule in the conference thus far. But we’ve also learned West Virginia has played one of the softest.

With six of the Mountaineers’ nine remaining games being against currently ranked opponents, they’ll have to do more than press the sweat out of opposing offenses—Oklahoma proved that.

The way West Virginia bounces back from the loss starts with moving the ball inside more. This wasn’t just a problem Tuesday, either. The Mountaineers continue to show a self-destructive tendency to give up possessions by jacking unavailable 3-pointers when they can’t find a passing lane, which wastes opportunities for Williams underneath.

The Mountaineers are shooting just over 29 percent from the 3-point line, which would be significantly worse if not for senior guards Juwan Staten (35.9 percent) and Gary Browne (35.8 percent), and the occasional help from Jaysean Paige (42.9 percent).

Freshman guards Daxter Miles Jr. and Jevon Carter have each had moments of glory, but have shot considerably more from beyond the arc than anyone else on the team.

Miles Jr. has sunk 19 threes in 61 attempts and Carter has sunk 27 in 89 attempts.

By comparison, Paige has 56 attempts, Browne has 53 and Staten only has 39.

Additionally, Adrian and Holton, both forwards, have shot for a combined 15-90 from 3-point land, which you would think should tell them one thing: stop shooting threes.

Both Adrian and Holton have all the necessary equipment and skills to play the forward position at a high level, as Adrian is a solid 6-foot-9 and 235 pounds, and Holton is 6-foot-7 and 220 pounds. On top of that, Adrian has shot 16-30 (53.3 percent) from inside this season and Holton has shot 67-111 (60.4 percent).

With another ranked matchup against No. 19 Baylor waiting on Saturday, the Mountaineers have to find another way to offensively support their full-court press. Even if Devin Williams is healthy, he’s going to need some help in the paint to handle the size and strength of 6-foot-8, 280 pound Rico Gathers. It won’t come from Adrian and Holton sailing desperation shots from downtown.