WVU’s Harler Learning His Role
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MORGANTOWN -- Chase Harler is learning that his importance to this year's men's basketball team at West Virginia University can't be measured in points, assists, steals and rebounds.
The Wheeling Central graduate has become the glue upon which veteran coach Bob Huggins relies to help transcend a freshmen class which has a lot of talent but is still in the early stages of understanding what the Mountaineers' coach expects of them.
"It's tough at times," Harler said following WVU's 88-76 victory over visiting Valparaiso Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum. "We have so many new faces and coach is playing a lot of the younger guys, so our chemistry isn't where it needs to be."
Especially on defense where the two-time West Virginia Gatorade Basketball Player of the Year finds himself fighting early foul difficulties while attempting to cover up mistakes made by WVU's bevy of first-year players.
"Yea, I have to be smarter than that," Harler said, who finished with three points and one steal in the win over the Crusaders. "I thought I got there for the charge on that first one and then, on the second one, I got called for reaching in when I was trying to stop one of their guards from getting a straight-line drive to the basket."
That second personal, however, sent the junior guard to the bench where he would spend the final 13 minutes and 12 seconds of the first half.
"It's very hard to get into the flow of the game when you are on the bench for 14 minutes. That's on me. I have to understand that coach needs me on the floor and I can't be on the floor with two fouls that early in the first half.
"My only goal in our next game is to not pick up that second foul so early."
With Harler on the floor, the Mountaineers had a 15-7 lead and looked to turn the non-conference game into a blowout early for the 9,188 fans in attendance.
But with their most experienced guard on the bench -- fellow junior James 'Beetle' Bolden missed the game with an injury -- the Crusaders went on a 14-5 spurt to take their first lead, 21-20, with 7:45 remaining in the first half.
WVU, which got a game-high 30 points from senior Esa Ahmad and 26 from junior Sagaba Konate, got its offense going over the final three minutes and took a 39-36 lead into the locker rooms at the intermission.
The Mountaineers, with junior Lamont West chipping in 11 points, continued to pull away from their Missouri Valley Conference foe over the final 20 minutes to up their mark to 3-2 on the season with a home encounter with Rider slated for 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday.
"We're getting better," Harler said. "Beetle should be back for our next game and that will make it better for me since he is so familiar with our offenses and defenses."
The Crusaders put four players in double digits, led by Derrik Smits' 20 points. Ryan Fazekas (15), Markus Golder (13) and Bakari Evelyn (10) joined Smits in double figures as Valparaiso dropped to 3-3 on the season.