UConn’s center does at least one thing very, very well.
This just in: Hasheem Thabeet can block shots. He’s third in the nation right now in blocks (4.4 per), and in Big East play he’s even better (5.1).
Thabeet will probably pass Donyell Marshall (245) Saturday and will be second in UConn in history in that category. Only Emeka Okafor (441) will have more.
“He’s a huge factor because he guards the rim so well,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said Friday while discussing his team’s matchup with UConn. “I think he’s blocking more than all but a couple of the teams in the Big East. He certainly fortifies their inside for them and makes it awful tough to get easy baskets.”
But the 7-foot-3 giant does have some problems guarding perimeter players. And that’s what West Virginia has plenty of.
John Beilein recruited most of these guys, which means even the 7-footers can shoot.
“They’re going to spread you and space you,” UConn coach Jim Calhoun said. “We’ve had varying degrees of success against that.”
Notre Dame’s Luke Harangody isn’t a perimeter star (at least, he wasn’t before turning into Jack Sikma Thursday night against Louisville) but he took Thabeet outside when they last met.
And everyone knows what Georgetown’s Roy Hibbert did to Hasheem (don’t tell me again how it wasn’t a fluke John Thompson III. If it’s not a fluke, why doesn’t Roy shoot out there all day. I mean if you have a 7-footer who can shoot….OK, OK, sorry about that rant. Back to the subject at hand).
Thabeet is generally taught to stay put in the paint when his man goes outside. He’s too valuable a defender to be pulled away and, besides, most big men can’t hit from out there.
But West Virginia will often play without a true center on the floor, and even if someone like 7-foot Jamie Smalligan is in the game, he’s a pretty good passer from the top of the key so you have to go out and play him a little.
So what does UConn tell Thabeet to do Saturday?
“Both,” Calhoun said. “We’re going to have him play the lane in certain situations, and then we’re going to have him come out and pressure the ball.”
