West Virginia forward Alex Ruoff, right, made five more three-pointers this season than the Pac-10 leader.

GREG BRYAN / arizona daily star

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WASHINGTON — Alex Ruoff can shoot.

He has made 91 three-pointers this season. That is 15 more than Washington's Ryan Appleby and five more than the Pac-10's three-point champion, O.J. Mayo.

Ruoff, a junior, has made one more trey than Jerryd Bayless and Jawann McClellan combined.

But today, Ruoff can also make his name on defense. Ruoff, a 6-foot-6-inch Floridian, said Wednesday he will guard Bayless when West Virginia plays the Arizona Wildcats in the first round of the NCAA tournament.

It might be the toughest challenge of Ruoff's life. Bayless is faster and more mobile. Ruoff's longer arms, however, can contest shots better than an average-sized guard.

"It's probably going be the best guarding assignment I've had this year, and our guards have had," he said.

Ruoff categorized the UA's freshman as "a quick-as-can-be guard, a great shooter."

Ruoff started every game last year, making 69 three-pointers — which accounted for more than half of his made field goals. In John Beilein's system, Ruoff was encouraged to shoot long-distance shots.

When new coach Bob Huggins installed the team's motion offense, that did not change.

"Coach Huggins has made it real easy," Ruoff said. "He never told me not to shoot. He made it real easy with the new offense. I've been lucky I guess; the hard work is paying off."

Huggins said he does not try to harness his players.

"Unless you start the year 1 for 21," he said. "Then I might have a talk that, 'You may ought to rethink it, find another way.'"

Ruoff describes the new offense as "just freedom." The motion set is more spontaneous than last year's offense.

"There's so many things you can do," he said. "It's such a tough scout, because we don't do the same thing twice."

Ruoff, who made seven three-pointers in one game against Syracuse in January, is usually the difference between the Mountaineers being good and being average.

In the team's 10 losses, Ruoff has made 22 of 71 shots, or 31 percent.

In the team's 24 wins, he has made 69 of 154, or 45 percent.

"We got to make sure that we're in his air space, to take away open threes," UA coach Kevin O'Neill said.

That is getting more difficult with every game West Virginia plays. Forward Joe Alexander has scored 161 points in the past six games. The first week of March, he became the first WVU player in 28 years to have back-to-back 30-point games.

He became only the fifth Mountaineers player ever to eclipse 149 points in five games — joining Will Robinson, Hot Rod Hundley, Rod Thorn, Jerry West and Mark Workman.

Translation: The Wildcats could be more focused on Alexander than Ruoff.

And that is where Ruoff could make his killing.

"I'm sure I'll get my open looks, based on the attention Joe's going to get," Ruoff said.