MORGANTOWN -
There's a reason Jabarie Hinds was the most highly rated of
Bob Huggins' enormous freshman class. On Monday night, he showed Akron just
what that reason was.
A game-high 19 points from the 5-foot-11 point guard was the
driving force in West Virginia's 77-56 win in a game that was supposed to serve
as a barometer for this young team.
Hinds was the spark that sent WVU on a 19-2 run to close out
the half and he did it on both ends of the court. His ball handling skills and
court vision made him just as dangerous as a scorer as he was getting the team
into its offense and a cool 15 points led all players at the half.
He had no intention of letting Akron regain any momentum,
either. Defensively, Hinds came up with two steals down the stretch in the
first half to help keep the Zips off the board.
His first, he took the length of the court and laid it up
effortlessly at the other end. The second he passed to a teammate for an open
three.
As time ran down, just after getting his own layup, Hinds
poked the ball away from Akron again and ran stride for stride with fellow
guard Gary Browne down the court. Browne passed it off to Hinds, who showed his
ability to share the rock on the run as he fed Kevin Jones under the basket.
He finished the game with five steals and four assists,
never turning the ball over.
Through it all, Hinds remained calm, his only sign of
emotion coming in the form of a couple claps as he walked to the bench for a
timeout.
His play in the first half was a major factor in Akron's
inability to score a field goal for the final 9:30 before the break, sending
the Mountaineers to the locker room with a 23-point lead.
"Momentum was going our way," says Hinds. "I was feeling it
defensively and offensively, forced turnovers, easy layups for us, everything
was going our way."
The athleticism he displayed is what Huggins saw from Hinds
when he recruited him out of Mount Vernon, N.Y. Despite his role as a
distributor, he never shies away from driving the lane if he sees an opening.
"He ain't hesitating. Jabarie's like me. If he sees an
opening, he's going to go for it," Truck Bryant says with a laugh. "No, but
Jabarie played a great game tonight. Really, it was good to see him play a good
game. He's been playing well overall, but it was good to see him have a good
game."
Hinds has started every game for the Mountaineers this season,
despite being the last freshman to join the team due to academic issues over
the summer. His play at the point has been solid in four games, but never was
his impact on the game felt nearly as much as it was against the Zips.
Coming into the game, much of the talk from WVU was about
the size Akron had inside and how to attack a 7-foot center. Huggins said his
team would go right at Zeke Marshall, he just didn't say it would go right at
him with a point guard.
And Hinds hasn't always played the point, either. More of a
scorer in high school, Huggins was convinced early that he had what it took to
compete at the one in college.
"The first thing is that when Coach [Bob] Cimmino (Hinds'
high school coach) says you are getting another Kevin Jones, that's good enough
for me," says Huggins. "If you watched him play in high school, he was happy to
get 12 or 14 points. If they needed him to get 30 points, he would get 30
points."
Browne believes that whatever the Mountaineers need out of
Hinds, he can deliver. Monday may have been just the start of what becomes a
more consistent performance from the freshman.
"We have a lot of games coming, so you're probably going to
see that the whole year from both of us," says Browne. "He played great defense
and he made our teammates better and he scored the ball. What else you can ask
from him? He did everything."
Hinds checked out of the game with just over six minutes
remaining. He was met with applause from an appreciative home crowd.
His performance is enough to give the entire team more
confidence as it leaves that home crowd behind and prepares for a road trip
that will be its biggest test so far this season.
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