MORGANTOWN — Walking into the WVU Coliseum on Saturday, forward Derek Culver caught a glimpse of himself on the cover of Mountaineer Illustrated, and figured good things were ahead for him.
“I saw myself on the cover and I was like, ‘I’ve never seen that before. What’s going on?’ ” Culver said after West Virginia’s 79-71 victory against Oklahoma.
When Culver, a freshman from Youngstown, Ohio, got to West Virginia’s locker room, he heard even better news.
“Coach Huggins goes, ‘D.C., you’re in the starting lineup,” Culver said. “I was blessed to be out there.”
He responded with 13 points and 14 rebounds on a day the Mountaineers came away with a 46-30 rebounding advantage.
It was Culver’s first collegiate start in his career.
“I was kind of taken by surprise by it, to be honest,” Culver said. “I didn’t know it was going to happen. I actually thought I wasn’t going to start any games this season.”
Huggins said the start was simply a matter of rewarding the freshman for his stellar play. Culver is averaging 11.2 points and 8.3 rebounds after missing the first 10 games of the season.
“I think he deserved it,” Huggins said. “No other reason other than him deserving it.”
