Holton "probably won't" play at Kansas

Over the last week and a half, West Virginia has played three games without indefinitely suspended forward Jon Holton.

Head coach Bob Huggins initially suspended Holton on January 28. West Virginia dropped its first game without the six-foot-nine senior at Florida, but has bounced back to defeat ranked opponents in consecutive games winning at Iowa State and back home against Baylor on Saturday.

While West Virginia has found ways to overcome the absence of Holton, the lingering question is, at what point in the season will he return?

West Virginia holds sole possession of first place in the Big 12 standings and plays at Kansas tomorrow night.

Kansas sits within a trio of teams, along with Oklahoma and Texas, just one game behind West Virginia. When West Virginia and Kansas met last month, the Mountaineers won with the help of Holton, who had eight rebounds in the win.

“I think the biggest difference is that we probably won’t have Jon Holton,” Huggins said during the Big 12 coaches teleconference on Monday morning. “He rebounds the ball so well and he also is the key to what we do pressure wise.”

In its win over the Jayhawks earlier this season, West Virginia forced Kansas to turn the ball over 22 times while scoring 18 points off of turnovers.

Due to the loss of Holton, at times against both Iowa State and Baylor, West Virginia backed off of its patented full court pressure defense and instead have used variations of the press, solid half court defense as well as more efficient scoring within its half court offensive sets to be successful.

Additionally, players like Nate Adrian have been pushed into prominent roles. Adrian was elevated from bench player to starter since Holton was put on suspension.

“Nate Adrian has gotten better and I think the time that Nate has been in the starting lineup that he’s shot the ball better. Nate is playing with more confidence. I think that’s a big deal,” Huggins said.

“We’ve also been able to get Brandon Watkins back in the rotation as well. With Brandon coming off the ACL, he needed time to have some confidence. Hopefully it’s helped the rest of our guys get confidence and play a little better.”

One constant Huggins has relied on all year is senior guard Jaysean Paige. With or without Holton, Paige is West Virginia’s top scoring option.

For the second time this season, Paige was named Big 12 Player of the Week, averaging 20 points per game during wins over Iowa State and Baylor. Huggins will look to Paige once again, to lead West Virginia at Allen Fieldhouse.

“I’m really happy for Jaysean (Paige) because he has put in a lot of work,” Huggins added. “Jaysean consistently is the one of the first guys in here before practice working on his game and one of the last ones to leave after practice, so it’s nice to see the people that appreciate the game and work at the game are rewarded.”