By Bob Hertzel
For the Times West Virginian
SYRACUSE, N.Y. —
DeMarcus Cousins looked across the table at which he was sitting, a circle of reporters standing around the Kentucky freshman.
Cousins is a freshman in school-standing only, because at 6-11 and 270 pounds, he is something of an awesome physical specimen, a player averaging 15.9 points a game and 9.9 rebounds who can dominate a game inside.
If John Wall is the featured attraction for the Wildcats as they tangle at 7 p.m. today with West Virginia in a game that sends the winner to the Final Four, Cousins is the most feared.
The Mountaineers, as anyone who has not spent the winter hibernating in a cave knows, want to play a physical game and Cousins is someone who is more than willing to oblige.
Teams have tried to do whatever they can to corral this mountain of a man.
“I found out what they do is grab me, hold me and hug me,” he said, drawing a laugh, as he hardly seems like the huggable type. “Basically, I just keep playing and hope the ref calls it.”
Rest assured, that West Virginia will grab him, hold him, hug him … and maybe even bang him around a little bit inside, that being the Mountaineers game. But unlike many teams, they have the people to do it, if not in size, then in numbers.
By the time this game is over Cousins is certain to see Wellington Smith start on him but soon find Cam Thoroughman, Deniz Kilicli and Danny Jennings clawing and banging at him.
“They have a lot of fouls to give you,” someone noted.
Cousins did not blink an eye or miss a beat.
His stare turned to a smile and he laid down the gauntlet with a two-word answer:
“Bring ‘em!” he snarled.
West Virginia’s games always are anything but pretty affairs. The Mountaineers play inside-your-jersey defense. They block out with a vengeance. They scratch, claw, fight and leap. They are not massive, as is Cousins, but they are long and lean … and deep defensively at the one position, the position that may make a difference.
Cousins, on the other hand, has a reputation for going off. He was a mad-man at times in AAU play and even earlier this season he had his moments where his emotions got the better of him.
Before Kentucky could reach its potential, and who knows if even at 35-2 the young Wildcats have done that yet, Cousins would have to learn to control his temper.
The Wildcats’ victory over a smaller, underdog Cornell team in the Sweet 16 was an example of how it is for Cousins.
“You’re playing the elephant-mouse game,” he said. “You just have to accept it. You got to play ball. There’s nothing you can do about it. I don’t really get mad at the player, more at the ref because they know what’s going on and they let it happen. But the player, he’s just going out and doing his job.”
Rest assured that West Virginia will do what it can to get him riled up, bait him into reacting or overreacting.
He says it won’t matter.
“I matured a lot,” he said. “Before, I was quick to react because I really didn’t know how to handle it. Coach said I should be ready for it, because that’s what teams are going to do to try and stop me.”
Of course, Calipari didn’t just whisper that into his ear. The veteran coach has been on his young player all year.
“It started the first day of practice,” Cousins said. “I can’t remember why. I know it was something small and I was like, ‘This is going to be a long year.’ But now I’m used to it, it’s an everyday thing.”
And Cousins has grown along with the Kentucky team, but they have not faced a challenge of the same kind that WVU will throw at them as the Mountaineers try to reach their first Final Four since Jerry West led them to the NCAA final in 1959.
But Cousins is what he is, and that’s a freshman.
“He’s a huge guy, but I mean he’s young,” Wellington Smith said. “When I was a freshman and things didn’t go my way, I got frustrated. That’s kind of what we’re planning on doing to him tomorrow, try and frustrate him and not let him touch the ball the way he wants to.”
Da’Sean Butler had his hand, injured in a fall in the victory over Washington on Thursday, iced after Friday’s practice but pronounced it good to go.
E-mail Bob Hertzel at bhertzel@hotmail.com.
