West Virginia plans to press, challenge Kentucky

By foxsports
Published

Looking at No. 5 seed West Virginia (25-9), which plays unbeaten Kentucky at 9:45 Thursday night in the Midwest regional semifinals at Cleveland's Quicken Loans Arena...

THE PATH: The Mountaineers lost three of their last four before the NCAA tournament while senior point guard Juwan Staten was out with a knee injury. They advanced to Cleveland via Columbus last weekend, beating Buffalo, 68-62, and Maryland, 69-59.

THE STARS: Staten is a fifth-year senior in his first NCAA tournament; the Dayton, Ohio native leads the Mountaineers at 14.2 ppg. The hottest player right now -- and maybe the most important against the Kentucky skyline -- is sophomore Devin Williams, a 6'9 Cincinnati native who had 16 points and 10 rebounds against Maryland. Freshman Jevon Carter provides offense off the bench (8.2 ppg) and has set a freshman record with 69 steals. West Virginia plays nine or 10 players and wants to full-court press at every opportunity.

THE HEAD HONCHO: Bob Huggins is coaching his 21st NCAA tournament, his sixth at West Virginia and first since 2012. Huggins got West Virginia to the Final Four in 2010, beating Kentucky in the East regional final; the Mountaineers lost to Kentucky in the second round in 2011. Huggins' career tournament record is 29-20; he also got to the Final Four with Cincinnati in 1992.

RECENT TOURNAMENT HISTORY: West Virginia is back after a two-year absence; only senior guard Gary Browne had tournament experience before last weekend. Previous Huggins WVU teams haven't pressed like this one does, but this one has depth and isn't afraid to play ugly -- or afraifd of any challenge -- like previous Mountaineers teams.

THE NUMBERS: West Virginia has 13 wins away from its home floor this season. The Mountaineers aren't a great shooting team but they don't mind going fast; they average 74 points per game and also rank in the top 60 nationally in rebounds and assists per game. The most impressive numbers are on the defensive side, where the Mountaineers lead the nation in steals and know they'll need to convert steals into scoring chances to have a chance to topple Kentucky.