West Virginia is coming out of her first losing series of two games for the season and now has to prepare for a rematch with No. 6 Houston in the Colosseum.
The cougars are in a winning series of 12 games, including a 70-54 win over mountaineers on January 15th. This is not the most favorable match to turn things around, but this basketball team turns out to be.
Especially after matches against Arizona and Kansas, where mountaineers fought at the protective end of the floor, which was one of the strengths of this team.
“After all, it’s still for our protection. We did not shoot him both well and our defense was not as it was. This was our main problem were those breakdowns in defense, so at the night we did not shoot it, we could not continue, “said chief coach Darian Devris.
The climbers have reviewed the movie from the last five games and every basket and there were great things that have happened in the last two losses that just didn’t happen in previous matches. This means that the Western Virginia just has to come back to play with the foundations there and be more related, since the defense was too isolated at times and spread.
But what happened before he was a precursor to what follows and the message of the coaching staff was simply not to allow what had happened to be affected and continue to stay with the plan and be confident.
“How to minimize poor shooting?” Devris said.
This is a difficult turn against any team, but especially like Houston, who does such a good job at both ends of the floor. The cougars are as good as in the protective end and play with both aggression and discipline. Later, the teams are trying to give the Senior Guard Javon Small A Ton of attention, which means that the Western Virginia must be ready to take advantage of that on the back when two are brought to him or allow him to take some space from the ball.
“We get out of where we have where some of these three points of opportunity come. Go out there, make this extra pass, then it’s a problem to make them, “Devris said.
In the meantime, in insult, West Virginia will have to choose how to protect Houston.
At the first meeting, West Virginia tried to play J’wan Roberts one in one in the post and he was 8-10 in the first half, but when the mountaineers chose to double it, the cougars hit the threesome on both possessions.
“They put you in difficult places there, but where you really get into trouble are the speed of a live ball, the offensive struggles and the launch. They are elite in this, so you have to minimize, “Devris said.
This is even more difficult than the fact that Houston made the West Virginia pay for her mistakes by running under screens and allowing their shooters to hit open triplets. This has become difficult because of how cougars are offended and forces defenders to sometimes make many decisions.
“They will look at you, they will redirect you again, and sometimes they will fake your hand and return and get another one,” Devris said. “Sounds easy, just don’t do it, but they make it a challenge.”
As this is the second meeting between the two teams, West Virginia will be able to see some of the things they did well, as well as where they fought and try to maximize what goes well and minimize the bad.
But most importantly, West Virginia will have to try to match the aggression with which the cougars play and how it is a function of their crime. In these situations of 50/50 or loose balls or struggles, Houston is able to invent the greater part of those who force a situation of struggle and leads to launch.
“A very veteran team that played a lot of basketball; They don’t panic, but they understand what the victory for them is and they play it, “Devris said.