One of the highlights in a largely an unforgettable season a year ago for West Virginia was a 65-59 victory at UAB that left the Mountaineers 10-1 at the time before they struggled to a 16-17 finish.
With the Blazers making the return trip to Morgantown for a 6 p.m. tip Saturday at the WVU Coliseum, don’t expect WVU head coach Bob Huggins to rely much on the Mountaineers’ recent history against the Blazers.
“I don’t ever want to have to think about last year again,” Huggins said.
There is, however, one thing Huggins specifically recalls from last season’s meeting. Kedrian Johnson’s defense was a primary factor in the Mountaineers’ ability to limit UAB guard Jordan “Jelly” Walker, who was held to 13 points on 6-of-20 shooting and had seven turnovers.
“He just runs away from people and Keedy did a great job of staying on him,” Huggins said. “Keedy has the same kind of speed.”
That matchup will again come into play Saturday. The 5-foot-11 Walker remains the focal point of the Blazers (7-1) and enters as the nation’s top scorer with a scoring average of 25.7 points. He is shooting better than 45 percent on field goals, has made 30-of-72 3-pointers and 34-of-37 free throws. Walker also contributes 4.6 assists and 2.1 steals on average.
“What we’re hoping is that Keedy can do as good a job this year as what he did a year ago,” Huggins said. “He’s the key for us.”
Still, Johnson, whose defensive prowess has been praised by Huggins over his three seasons at West Virginia, won’t be able to control Walker alone, nor will he be tasked with trying to slow him for the entirety of the game.
“Keedy’s not going to be able to do it for 40 minutes,” Huggins added.
Thus, for as much as Johnson will look to disrupt Walker, it’ll take a total team effort for the Mountaineers, whose defense remains a work in progress. Through nine games, West Virginia (7-2) is further along offensively than defensively.
“It needs to be better,” Huggins said of his team’s defense. “The athleticism we have, there’s no reason why we can’t stay in front of people. We have better size than we’ve had in a while, so we should be able to do a better job around the rim. We have a lot of guys who can score and have pretty much scored their whole career. Their focus has been almost solely offensively when we really need them to stay in front of people and guard.”
In Wednesday’s 85-64 win over Navy, West Virginia shot better than 50 percent from the field for the fourth time this season. In two other games — victories over Mount St. Marys and Morehead State — the Mountaineers were a combined 57 for 119, and in a third, they put together their most impressive showing of the season in a 29-point win over Florida.
Each of West Virginia’s top four scorers wasn’t with the team a year ago and all but Emmitt Matthews Jr. had never played a game for the Mountaineers before November.
Guard Erik Stevenson is the top scorer at 14.2 points, while forward Tre Mitchell follows at 12.9. Point guard Joe Toussaint averages 11 points, followed by Matthews at 10.2 and Johnson’s eight.
“I thought we’d be pretty good. Obviously we’ve seen Erik play for quite a while and having Emmitt coming back,” Huggins said. “The question was how quick and how well would Tre be able to move and all and he’s been really good. He says he feels great.”
Mitchell was sidelined for most of the preseason with a foot injury but has played nearly 24 minutes on average and in all nine contests.
While WVU executed in an efficient manner for much of the victory over the Midshipmen, Huggins expects UAB to utilize different defenses under Andy Kennedy, a former assistant under Huggins at Cincinnati now in his third season coaching the Blazers.
“That’s typical Andy. He likes to do that kind of thing,” Huggins said. “You have to make adjustments. There’s different areas you need to attack. They throw the whole gamut at you now.“
Behind Walker, the Blazers, who won Conference USA and qualified for the NCAA Tournament last season, have two other double figure-scorers in 6-8 forward KJ Buffen (10.4) and 6-2 guard Eric Gaines (10.1).
Three other Blazers average better than eight points in 6-5 guard Ledrarrius Brewer, 6-7 forward Ty Brewer and 6-11 center Trey Jamison.
“Andy brought in a couple of guys that have been good scorers in their own right,” Huggins said. “That was a move to take some of the pressure off the point guard [Walker].”
Saturday’s game will be shown on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ and the Mountaineers won’t play again until December 18 when they welcome Buffalo.