By Dave Morrison
The wait is over.
Deniz Kilicli, the 6-foot-9, 270-pound inside presence, will make his long-awaited debut for West Virginia tonight when the Mountaineers host Pitt at 7 p.m. at the WVU Coliseum.
The game will be televised on Fox Sports Pittsburgh.
Kilicli was ruled ineligible for the first 20 games when it was discovered he played on a team in his native Turkey that had a paid player on the roster. He was not involved but was nonetheless penalized by the NCAA.
For coach Bob Huggins, it’s a no-brainer to get the kid right into the mix, despite it being the middle of the Big East schedule.
“I don’t have any choice but to play him. What can I do? Wait?” said Huggins, who was in Beckley Tuesday at the Mountain State Academy-Oak Hill Academy game in the Big Atlantic Classic. “That would just set him back more.”
So the Mountain State Academy product will play.
And for Huggins, it’s a no-brainer.
“He’s going to help us inside,” Huggins said. “He’s a better scorer in the paint than K.J. (Kevin Jones) or Wells (Wellington Smith) and he gives us another big body. Hopefully he can score.”
West Virginia will take all the scoring it can get. The No. 6 Mountaineers have won four in a row but have had to battle from behind too many times for the coach.
“Well, I’d rather they didn’t do it,” Huggins said. “The bottom line is we just have to make some shots. And we have to do it early in games as well as late. I guess as long as the trend ends up the way it has, we’ll take it.”
WVU is 17-3 and 6-2 in Big East play.
Da’Sean Butler, who had 27 in a 77-74 win over Louisville Saturday, leads WVU at 16.5 ppg. Jones is averaging 14.5. Devin Ebanks 11.3 and 8.2 rebounds and Truck Bryant 10.8
No. 22 Pitt is led by Ashton Gibbs, who averages 16.8 points per game.
Brad Wannamaker averages 12.9 and Gilbert Brown 11.2 for the Panthers (16-5, 6-3).
