Huggins uncensored: Coach has much to discuss as No. 12 West Virginia hosts Kansas State

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — The folded-up slip of paper was literally sitting in Bob Huggins’ right hip pocket Friday.

All the head coach of the 12th-ranked West Virginia men’s basketball team needed was the right opportunity, which, of course, eventually came.

“I’ll tell you, I probably shouldn’t, but I’ll give you some very alarming stats,” Huggins began as he reached into his pocket and pulled out the paper. “We were averaging 20 turnovers a game for the longest time. On top of that, uncontested field goals — that’s a guy seven or eight feet off of you — we’re 54 for 169 for 32 percent. That’s with nobody guarding you.”

There was more.

“Catch-and-shoot, which is not off the bounce, but stepping into it and shooting it, we’re 73 for 243 for 30 percent,” he continued. “Uncontested catch-and-shoot shots, we are 22 for 89 for 25 percent.

“Now you know why we’ve lost four (games), we can’t shoot.”

Later, the joke is put to Huggins that the takeaway from the stats are his players are better shooters when they’re guarded.

“That’s not what you should have taken away from that,” Huggins countered. “What you should have taken away from that is everybody is backing off and cramming up the inside on us.”

As the Mountaineers (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) prepare to host Kansas State (9-11, 2-5) at 2 p.m. Saturday, they will do so with a lot of questions to answer.

It was a 16-point loss at Kansas State two weeks ago that began the roller-coaster ride WVU is currently on.

Since then, the Mountaineers beat Texas and Missouri at home by a combined 61 points, only to go back on the road Wednesday and give up 89 points and 11 3-pointers in a loss at Texas Tech.

In Huggins’ opinion, the paper held more than just a testament to the Mountaineers’ bad shooting.

“The reason I said all of that is I think a good portion of those statistics are because of bad passes,” Huggins said. “If you’ve got to field it off your ankles, you’re probably not going to make it. If you’ve got to jump to field it and then come back down and get yourself together, you’re probably going to get covered up. Great passers can make even bad shooters into decent shooters.”

The box score from the Texas Tech loss could not hide just how bad the Mountaineers’ ball movement was.

WVU made 22 baskets against the Red Raiders, but recorded just five assists.

“One thing you can say about me is I don’t lie,” Huggins said. “I told you the first week that we practiced is that we can’t pass. I haven’t changed my opinion.

“How about just flat missing wide open guys cutting to the basket? It happens all the time. We just don’t pass the ball very well. Is that inexperience? I sure hope so. I would think so.”

There is another offensive adjustment the Mountaineers have to make concerning defenses packing players into the paint to help out on WVU forwards Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe.

WVU has faced that question for much of the season.

The difference is Big 12 teams are doing it with athletes such as Texas Tech’s 6-foot-6 Terrence Shannon Jr., a freshman who was a four-star recruit coming out of high school, as opposed to the smaller players from Austin Peay or Nicholls State who tried to clog up the lanes.

“The size and length is much greater now,” Huggins said. “The physicality now far surpasses what we saw in our buy games. So, that also has something to do with it.”

More discussions

* Huggins said backup point guard Brandon Knapper is doing better after sitting out the Texas Tech game with the flu.

“He was good (in practice on Thursday),” Huggins said. “He had the flu. He doesn’t look good. He’s lost weight and stuff, but he shot it well.”

* After going through some periods of struggle at the free-throw line, Derek Culver went 14 of 16 from the line at Texas Tech.

“I spent an hour with Derek and he goes 14 of 16, but I was talking to him the whole time,” Huggins said. “I was trying to talk him through it in the game. When he missed his first one, if you were there, you saw him turn around and look at me. I’m like, ‘Don’t look at me. Just do what we worked on doing.’ ”

* WVU announced in December that it was extending it’s deal with IMG College for its radio broadcasting rights.

As part of that $125 million extension that runs through 2025, WVU is using IMG funds — as well as its own fundraising — to renovate the WVU Coliseum with new LED boards and a new video scoreboard.

Huggins said Friday, the Coliseum will also have new seats throughout the arena next season.

“I would just like for people to be able to sit in seats that don’t fall off,” Huggins said. “They’re 50 years old. I’m not blaming anybody, but they haven’t touched it.

“They’re going to fix it. I’ve bitched about it enough. We’re going to have new seats in here next year. We’re going to have a new scoreboard next year. Supposedly they’re going to do whatever they can do with the acoustics.”

WVU has also given IMG College permission to find a sponsor for the naming rights for the arena. IMG College is currently shopping around for the right sponsor.

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