West Virginia Basketball: Mountaineers must go big to beat Villanova
West Virginia takes on the Vegas frontrunner to win the national title on Friday in the Villanova Wildcats. How can the Mountaineers pull off the upset?
Bob Huggins and West Virginia have a very bright future, with eight guys who play regular minutes all being underclassmen. But this is a win-now team, with their two leading scorers – Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr, both graduating after this season.
They both hope their season doesn’t end in a couple of days, where they take on the top scoring offense in the country in Villanova. Not only do they have future NBA players in Jalen Brunson and Mikal Bridges, the Wildcats have four other players who average double figures, making them an impossible offense to stop.
The prime matchup will be the Mountaineer’s press, versus the Wildcat’s guards. But that’s not going to be enough to get the upset win for West Virginia. Instead, it’ll be about one area the Big 12 school has the advantage at – down low.
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Villanova is a rather small team, with just one true big in Omari Spellman. He leads the team in rebounding at 7.9 rpg, with the guards helping out as well. The freshman center is also the only main rotation player over 6’7.
West Virginia has a number of guys at their frontline, led by sophomore Sagaba Konate who has improved his offense greatly while being a stout defender.Along with Konate, the Mountaineers have four players at 6’8, with Lamont West, Esa Ahmad, and Wesley Harris.
These teams compare well with each other on height and weight, but West Virginia’s players are very versatile, with Ahmad comfortable at the “3” spot and Harris able to play the two-spot if needed. This is important to try to use their size to at least slow down Villanova. That doesn’t even include 6’5 freshman Teddy Allen, a source of instant offense for the Mountaineers.
If this game becomes a foul-fest, West Virginia has the bodies to withstand foul trouble. Villanova, on the other hand, could have some issues if that happens.
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Carter and Miles will have their hands full guarding the Wildcats guards, but for the Mountaineers to win, they’ll have to win this from the post. Otherwise, Carter’s historic career will come to an.