Nathan Adrian has made the most of his extended playing time for the West Virginia basketball team.
On the offensive and defensive side, Adrian has provided a boost to the Mountaineers when they have been down a starter in Jonathan Holton, who remains to be sidelined stemming from a suspension that began at the end of January.
Adrian doesn’t have the athleticism or quickness of Holton, but the transition has been seamless. Adrian plays bigger than himself and takes advantage of his full size, 6-foot-9, 240-pound body.
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Even though the Mountaineers lost to Kansas on Tuesday, Adrian did everything he could to put his team in a position to win.
Adrian grabbed three rebounds, all on the offensive glass. On two occasions in the second half, he chased down lose balls, heading out of bounds. Adrian was able to regain possession with another crack at cutting into the Jayhawks’ lead.
He drilled two 3-pointers, his only two attempts from behind-the-arc, and finished with eight points. At the 8:07 mark of the second half, Adrian hit a 3-pointer which brought the score to 54-50. But a 3-pointer on the other end by Kansas allowed the Jayhawks to pretty much run away from the Mountaineers after that.
Adrian added three steals, one assist and one block.
"“…we needed Nathan Adrian on the floor because he’s our one big that can guard (on the perimeter),” said head coach Bob Huggins after the 75-65 loss in Lawrence."
Adrian has started the last five games for the Mountaineers, even before Holton was suspended. On Jan. 26, Adrian played as freshman Esa Ahmad was injured and scored 10 points in 21 minutes. His highest scoring output over his starting stretch came last Saturday in a big 80-69 win over Baylor at the WVU Coliseum.
Playing a season-high 32 minutes, Adrian poured in 11 points.
"“He’s been playing real well,” teammate Jaysean Paige said. “He’s stepped up. He’s been playing his tail off, knocking down shots. It’s a hard task for somebody to come in and guard one of the best scorers in the league, and I thought he did a good job on Taurean Prince.”"
His defensive abilities came into play against the Bears as he held Prince to 10 points, well below his team-leading 15.1 points per game.
The Mountaineers’ collective defensive effort kept the Bears at bay as they shot just 38.7-percent from the floor.
It was a different story against Kansas, though.
The Jayhawks shot 56-percent from the floor in their home gym, Allen Fieldhouse, a place notorious for giving a Kansas a huge home court advantage. There was not much the Mountaineers could do to cool down the Jayhawks, who shot 50-percent from 3-point range in the second half.
Adrian defended mostly wing players for Kansas, but it was hard for the Mountaineers to get into any defensive set as the Jayhawks disrupted the Mountaineers’ offense.
It was a far cry from the first meeting between these two teams in Morgantown. WVU forced 22 Jayhawks turnovers then, while Kansas committed just six turnovers on Tuesday.
"“It wasn’t all them,” Huggins said. “You have to give us credit, too, for screwing the game up.”"
Adrian, though, hasn’t been one of the screw ups for West Virginia. His play has been consistent and he has flourished in a newer role.
It is still not clear when Holton will return from his suspension. There is no guarantee he will get his starting job back when he does return. Adrian has proven he can hold down the spot, with or without Holton’s contributions to the team.