WVU Basketball: A JuCo-To-West Virginia Tale
By Phil Poling
During WVU Basketball’s 26-9 finish last season, the show was dominated by an erratic press defense that saw many Mountaineer guards contribute. Among them, Jaysean Paige flourished in his bench role along with Tarik Phillip, leaving few opportunities for a junior college transfer to find his niche.
Teyvon Myers, the national junior college leading scorer in 2014-15, is currently a reserve guard for Press Virginia averaging 15.4 minutes per game. He played sparingly last year, but is averaging 7.8 points per game on 44 percent shooting from the field this season, and is connecting on half of his three pointers. His boxscore won’t tell the entire story of his impact on the game, though.
Myers is, for lack of a better term, a microwave on the basketball court; he gets hot..quick. While at Williston State College in North Dakota, Myers averaged 25 points per game and shot an incredible 85.2 percent from the charity stripe. He expected a slight dip in his numbers offensively due to the rise in competition at WVU, but it was on the defensive end that Myers needed to improve most to earn playing time for Huggins.
He averaged 4 rebounds and 3.4 assists a game during his final JuCo season, but only managed 46 steals in 30 games. That seems like a decent number, but when you think of the competition and his ease of scoring, 1.5 steals a game is unimpressive. Myers scored in double figures every single game that season, while scoring 20 or more 22 times, and 30 or more seven times.
During Big 12 conference play, expect to see Myers put up some eye-popping scoring numbers. There’ll be nights where leading scorers Nathan Adrian and Esa Ahmad struggle, giving Myers and others spots to fill it up.
, which came in their early season loss to Temple, was 15 points. Against Texas, Myers led the team and upped his career-high to 16 points, with the Mountaineers needing every single one of them. A feisty Longhorns squad in Austin kept it close all the way to the wire, but West Virginia ultimately won, 74-72.
With two minutes to play, the 75-percent career-free throw shooter was on the floor to help close things out for the Mountaineers. This type of game could be a spring-board for Myers down the stretch. A shorter leash could be used for starters in favor of the offensive-minded Myers, especially if he can contribute in aspects other than scoring. His 16 points were huge, but his two steals, his lone offensive rebound, and his seven-for-ten free throw clip will all be major confidence points with coach Bob Huggins moving forward. With Kansas making their annual trip to Morgantown on Jan. 24, the Mountaineers will have another opportunity to knock off a (possible) No. 1 team.