Ever since it pulled off an impressive run to beat Georgetown in the Big East Tournament final on a Da’Sean Butler jumper in the waning seconds of regulation, defensive-minded West Virginia been the popular pick to be the non-No. 1 seed capable of cutting down the nets in Indianapolis.
As the Mountaineers (31-6) prepare to enter Saturday night’s semifinal matchup with Duke, the only No. 1 seed still playing, they (31-6) have proven that they can win NCAA Tournament games in a variety of ways.
After cruising to an opening round win against overmatched Morgan State, West Virginia had to fight off a pesky Missouri team that dominated its Big East opposition on the offensive boards. In the end, West Virginia had to rely on getting to the free throw line 33 times to pull out a single-digit win in a second round matchup.
In that game, Butler went 12-of-13 from the charity stripe en route to a team-high 28 points. As his team’s leading scorer in both the regular and postseason, the lanky swingman is a 3-point threat but is at his best when attacking the basket.
In the Sweet 16, the Mountaineers had to play from behind against Washington in what was their first game without injured point guard Darryl “Truck” Bryant. In Bryant’s absence, West Virginia depended on its defense, holding the Huskies to just 27 second half points.
“We’re not going to score a whole lot of points and our guys want to win, so I think they understand we’ve got to do a great job of guarding,” head coach Bub Huggins said. “Our length has something to do with it. And I think in the last month, we’ve gotten a lot better.”
Whether they are in man-to-man or zone, the player that the coaching staff looks at as the quarterback of the defense is sophomore and leading rebounder Devin Ebanks. Ebanks, a 6-foot-9 forward, is a very talented player who battled a hand injury for much of the season and found even greater ways to contribute on the defensive end.
“We don’t like being scored on,” Ebanks said. “We try to limit everybody’s scoring and limit their touches. It’s fun knowing that you can shut the other person down.”
And in order to punch their ticket to the Final Four, the Mountaineers had to topple a talent-laden Kentucky squad. Again, West Virginia had a great effort on the defensive end, holding a Wildcat team full of offensive firepower and NBA talent to 34 percent shooting from the field and 12 percent shooting from deep. Still, it also took a bit of an offensive outburst from the Mountaineers that included 10-of-23 shooting from downtown.
But perhaps the biggest story of the game was Joe Mazulla. The point guard stepped into the starting lineup for the first time in the Tournament, replacing the injured Bryant, and outplayed soon-to-be No. 1 pick, John Wall.
If Moutaineer fans are going to be smiling Monday night, it is going to take a signature Huggins-coached team performance on the defensive end. In addition to the trio of Butler, Ebanks, and Mazulla, forward Kevin Jones, a consistent double-digit scorer, will be relied on to make plays. Still, it has been well documented that West Virginia can win even when the shots aren’t falling.
“They can win when they are not making shots,” said Jay Wright, the head coach of conference rival Villanova. “They can create offense off their great defense. If they miss shots, they get offensive rebounds.”
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