‘Aggressive matchup’ of bigs may highlight KU-West Virginia basketball game
Kansas’ basketball big men, on paper, face a huge challenge on Tuesday night in their matchups against West Virginia’s Oscar Tshiebwe and Derek Culver.
“They are very important, because West Virginia will probably throw the deepest group of bigs at us in our league,” KU coach Bill Self said Monday, referring specifically to David McCormack and Mitch Lightfoot.
They may take turns manning the middle during a Big 12 battle between No. 3 KU (7-1, 1-0) and No. 7 West Virginia (7-1, 1-0), set for an 8 p.m. tipoff at Allen FIeldhouse. It will be shown live on ESPN2.
The 6-10 McCormack and 6-9 Lightfoot — as well as wings Jalen Wilson, Ochai Agbaji and Christian Braun and maybe even guard Marcus Garrett — could all be needed at times as KU tries to contain Culver, a 6-10, 255-pound junior who averages 14.4 points and 10.9 rebounds and Tshiebwe, a 6-9, 260-pound sophomore, who averages 8.8 points and 7.3 rebounds per contest.
“Our guards certainly have to rebound (but) David and Mitch’s play is going to be very important,” Self added.
McCormack, KU’s regular starter at the 5-spot, averages 9.8 points and 5.4 boards. Lightfoot, who has played just 7.2 minutes a game, averages 3.9 points and 3.0 boards. Lightfoot has seven blocked shots, which ties him with Tyon Grant-Foster for the team lead in rejections.
“Bigs always love playing against another big, having that aggressive matchup,” McCormack said Monday adding, “(it’s) just kind of a ‘mano a mano’ type game.”
Of Tshiebwe, who has four blocked shots to Culver’s 10, McCormack said: “Oscar is athletic, strong, a great big man. I think we’ll have to do a great job trying to keep him off the boards and limit his touches.”
A year ago, 6-foot-5 point guard Garrett guarded Culver at times during the second half of KU’s 58-49 victory over WVU in Morgantown, West Virginia. KU held the Mountaineers to 27.6% shooting the final half in overcoming a nine-point deficit.
“Derek is a better player this year. He’s putting up more numbers,” Self said. “I don’t think it’s a great matchup on paper for us just from a a standing height standpoint. Marcus did have a great second half against them in Morgantown. That game probably did as much for him winning national defensive player of the year as any game all year long. He was matched against Derek some but he guarded everybody.
“I don’t look to him being the guy on Derek,” Self added. “I do think there will be times he is because we switch so much. He (Garrett) will play a key role in our defensive scheme without question.”
KU’s McCormack, who has not been a huge offensive force this season, at Self’s urging has been focusing on “little things,” McCormack said.
“Whether sealing, rebounding, keeping balls alive, setting proper screens, things like that are our main priority. Points and statistics and things like that can come later,” McCormack said. “I definitely think every player can use a reminder as far as to focus on the little things. That’s how you can build and grow. I think it was definitely a necessity for coach to talk about it and just touch on those points,” McCormack added.
West Virginia not only has an inside presence, but as always has a group of guards and small forwards who can execute the press. Sophomore Miles McBride, junior Sean McNeil, junior Emmitt Matthews and others forced 21 Iowa State turnovers in Saturday’s 70-65 WVU victory over the Cyclones in Morgantown.
“McBride creates havoc a lot like Carter did and Carter was national defensive player of the year,” Self said of former WVU standout Jevon Carter. “They are still pressuring you every possession and hitting you maybe with a soft press that can become hot at any time. It’s a little different. It still makes you compete every possession to get it past half court.”
The two teams have a common opponent this season in No. 1 Gonzaga. The Mountaineers fell to the Bulldogs, 87-82, on Dec. 2 in Indianapolis. KU lost to Gonzaga, 102-90, in the season opener for both teams on Nov. 26 in Florida.
“They played them a lot better than we did,” Self said. “Their most impressive game was probably Richmond,” Self added of the Mountaineers’ 87-71 win over then No. 19 Richmond on Dec. 13 in Morgantown.
“They’ll be jacked to play,” Self added. “Obviously they always seem to play well in our building. They’ve got perimeter shooters around two post guys which they haven’t had consistently in the past which makes them harder to guard.”
Last year, KU erased a 10-point deficit to trip WVU, 60-53, on Jan. 4 in the fieldhouse. Tshiebwe had 17 points and 17 rebounds; Culver five points and 12 boards in that game.
Of Tuesday’s upcoming battle between top 10 teams on ESPN2, Self said: “It’d have to rank as one of the five biggest pre-Christmas games of the college season so far. If you study the games we’ve played, the games have actually lived up to the hype. That doesn’t happen very often. We’ve had some great games with them, especially in our building.”
The most exciting game? KU overcame a 14-point deficit in the final three minutes to force overtime and beat WVU, 84-80, on Feb. 14, 2017 in Allen.
“I’d say this is a pretty big game going into Christmas break. Everybody wants to go on a win,” McCormack said.
After Tuesday’s game, KU is next scheduled to play Texas at 11 a.m. Jan. 2 in Allen.
