West Virginia guard Amir Jenkins (proper) goes for a steal Tuesday evening towards Mount St. Mary’s. (Photo by Benjamin Powell/The Dominion Post)
Apparently there’s a story about Jasper Floyd wanting good on opening evening.
That’s the excellent news for the West Virginia males’s basketball crew, which pulled away late Tuesday for a 70-54 victory over Mount St. Mary’s contained in the Hope Coliseum in Ross Hodge’s first win as WVU’s head coach.
Floyd tied his profession excessive with 25 factors.
He completed with eight factors and an help over the ultimate 6:23, after Mount St. Mary’s had pulled inside 52-46.
“I was just taking what the defense gave me,” mentioned Floyd, who transferred over from North Texas this season, following Hodge to West Virginia. “They were playing off me, forcing me to score. That’s kind of what it felt like. They were living with me scoring instead of passing.”
The story behind Floyd’s sturdy begins is he started final season at North Texas with 23 factors towards Evansville.
Does that imply it’s all downhill from right here for the purpose guard?
“I don’t know,” Hodge mentioned with a smile. “Maybe everyone else will just play better.”
There is definitely some room for enchancment, as WVU (1-0) shot slightly below 44% (21-48) from the ground and actually struggled from 3-point vary. West Virginia’s prime capturing duo of Honor Huff and Treysen Eaglestaff mixed to go 3 for 12 from behind the arc.
Eaglestaff, a switch from North Dakota, actually had an off evening, ending with one level and was 0 for 3 from the sphere. He averaged almost 19 factors per recreation at North Dakota final season.
“This isn’t my first time coaching really good shooters who maybe need to take a little while to really get their legs under them, because of the effort we’re asking them to exert on the defensive end of the floor,” Hodge mentioned. “You’re asking him to play harder than he’s ever had to play on that end of the floor. He’s bought into that. Like all good offensive players, the game will open up for him and he’ll settle in.”
There have been different points, like WVU getting beat on the boards, 38-29, and WVU additionally struggled at the foul line, making solely 62% (23 of 35).
“We spend a lot of time in practice on it,” mentioned Huff, who scored seven of his 16 factors from the foul line. “It’s a big point of emphasis, you just have to step up to the line and bang it. We’re a better free-throw shooting team than we’ve shown in our exhibition and in this game.”
There have been loads of positives, too. WVU compelled 20 turnovers and recorded 13 steals. The compelled turnovers, Hodge mentioned, form of negated Mount St. Mary’s rebounding benefit.
WVU’s protection additionally held Mount St. Mary’s to simply 39% (18 of 46) from the ground.
Mount St. Mary’s was by no means a menace from 3-point vary, ending simply 5 of 17.
“Probably the difference in the game was our defensive activity with our hands and getting deflections and turning them over 20 times and we only turned it over nine,” Hodge mentioned. “We didn’t shoot the ball well from three, but our overall activity defensively was the difference.”
Which brings us again to Floyd. With Mount St. Mary’s, properly, mounting a comeback, it was Floyd who started to take the ball proper to the rim. He obtained three lay-ups within the remaining minutes, added two free throws after which threw an ideal lob cross to teammate Brenen Lorient for a dunk that gave WVU a 60-48 lead with 3:30 remaining.
“Jasper has a unique ability to understand what his team needs in each moment,” Hodge mentioned. “His calming presence, especially early in the game when we were kind of having a hard time finding baskets, he senses that. He can do that or he can go into facilitate mode. His even-keeled nature allows him to come up big in big moments.”
Floyd added 4 assists and 5 steals to go together with his 25 factors in his WVU debut. He’ll attempt to comply with that up at 7 p.m. Thursday, when WVU hosts Campbell.
Lorient, who additionally adopted Hodge from North Texas, completed with a double-double with 11 factors and 13 rebounds.
“It’s probably not a super surprise that the two guys who probably looked the most comfortable on the floor were the two guys who played for me and have been through 40 of these,” Hodge mentioned. “You’re always going to be settling in. For us, our defense was good enough to carry us on a night when we didn’t make a lot of free throws and had opportunities to separate.”