Hand-in-hand with Holton's return, West Virginia reignites press

Last Thursday, when West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins lifted the suspension of senior forward Jon Holton, no one was happier than the other twelve players on the roster.

Holton was welcomed back to practice with open arms because his return signified West Virginia could return to its suffocating and infuriating full court pressure defense. As much as West Virginia has a team of replaceable parts, the key to its pressure is the man who plays atop the defense.

With a wingspan of more than seven feet, the combination of length and athleticism for Holton gives opposing ball handlers fits. The opposing guards have a major challenge of simply getting the ball past Holton on the initial inbounds.

“Everyone makes mistakes, but Jon (Holton) is one of our guys, so we weren’t mad at him,” West Virginia guard senior Jaysean Paige said. “Plus, besides basketball, he is going to be one of my good friends for life because we’ve been through a lot together here as seniors.”

In four games – at Florida, at Iowa State, vs. Baylor and at Kansas – without Holton, West Virginia was forced to back away from its press at times. Because the Mountaineers used less tantalizing variations of its press as well as half court man and zone schemes, the opposing teams didn’t turn the ball over as much they did in the previous games when Holton was at the helm of the defense.

During the four contests without Holton, West Virginia forced only 13.7 turnovers per game. In the previous 20 with Holton, opponents averaged 19.8 giveaways per game.

Saturday, when Holton made his return to game action, so did the smothering defense.

West Virginia beat TCU, 73-42. TCU turned the ball over 26 times and West Virginia scored 26 points off of those turnovers. As a team, West Virginia also recorded 15 steals.

“We just harped on getting back to doing what we do,” Paige said.

“We knew exactly what we were capable of doing with our press. Now we’re ready to press like that the rest of the way.”

For Holton, who came off the bench, he was just happy to play his part in the defense again. Fellow forward Nate Adrian remained in the starting lineup after earning starts while Holton was sidelined.

“It’s fun. Knowing 'Press Virginia' is back on track and everyone is buying in again, is great,” Holton said. “Nate Adrian started us off today and I followed after him. We have 13 guys but we press the whole game, so we will keep needing all 13 players, but it was good today.”

TCU’s 42 points is the fewest the Horned Frogs have scored all season. The mark is also the fewest points West Virginia has given up in a game this year and in any Big 12 contest in the school’s history.

Like Paige and Holton, Huggins was just happy to see his team look more true to its pressing identity.

“We made a conscious effort today,” Huggins said. “I think we had been too passive. We worried about fouls and turning people loose. We have to be more aggressive. I thought Nate (Adrian) and Jon (Holton) both did a really good job of making TCU play faster than they wanted to play.”