Let The Mountaineer Madness Begin
WVU opens tournament tonight at 9:50 p.m. on TruTV
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The only certainty heading into this year's NCAA tournament is that it is unlike any other.
Over this past week, college teams from across the country settled into the Indianapolis bubble -- their home for the next few weeks, if they're lucky. They've undergone COVID-19 testing and spent the majority of their time in their hotel rooms, with most donning March Madness-themed facemasks the few times they've been able to move around.
The West Virginia University men's basketball team visited Lucas Oil Stadium on Wednesday, the location of its first-round matchup. The Midwest Region's No. 3 seed, the Mountaineers (18-9) will open up against No. 14 Morehead State on Friday night, with tipoff scheduled for 9:50 p.m. on TruTV.
Morehead State enters the field as the Ohio Valley Conference champion, taking down Belmont on March 6. The Eagles finished the regular season with a 23-7 record, but is winless against Power 5 opponents in three tries this season.
Making its first tournament appearance since 2011, Morehead State relies heavily on its defensive game. The Eagles lead their conference on that side of the floor, allowing only an average of 63.4 points per game. From the 3-point line, they're only allowing opponents to make 30% of their shots.
"We've got to do a good job of moving them," Huggins said. "Hopefully we can get them spread with the number of people we're going to put on the floor who can conceivably make shots. We've got, hopefully, an advantage with Derek (Culver) against a guy who is very, very talented, but he's a freshman. We've got to accentuate our positives and try to stay away from our negatives."
The freshman in question is Johni Broome, a 6-foot-10, 235-pound Florida native who is the focal point of Morehead State on both sides of the floor. He leads the team in scoring and rebounding, averaging 13.9 and 9.0 per game, respectively.
During the OVC Tournament, Broome averaged slightly more than 19 points per game, as well as 12 rebounds per game, en route to being named the tournament MVP.
"He reminds me of Chris Bosh," Huggins said of Broome. "He's got kind of that push shot that he gets away very quickly. He shares the ball in the post, which is important. He doesn't get gang-guarded as much because he is such a good passer. You hope that Derek's experience and certainly Derek's physicality bode well for Derek and for us."
Despite ranking eighth in the 12-team OVC on offense, Huggins says that the Eagles have a range of playmakers that are not to be ignored.
"They got a lot of guys who can make shots," Huggins said. "They really do a good job of spreading the ball and, obviously, the post guy is very, very good. It's hard to get help there whenever you surround him with the guys that they surround him with because they're all very capable of making shots, they're all very capable of having big nights."
With this year's tournament being incomparable to anything coming before it, Huggins, who is participating in his 25th, is eager to make the most of it all.
"I kind of had decided that, in my old age, I'm going to try to enjoy this as much as I possibly can," Huggins said. "I love being around our guys, I love being around our staff. I don't really need a whole lot more."