Huggins to his players: If you want more playing time, play better

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Maybe at his wit’s end, Bob Huggins opened the door for a peek inside the West Virginia men’s basketball program on Saturday.

The story being told was one of frustration following the No. 17 Mountaineers’ 67-60 overtime loss at TCU, a team WVU had beaten by 32 points earlier in the season in Morgantown.

“This was a game we should have won,” Huggins said on his postgame radio show. “I’m tired of saying that. I’m tired of watching it. It’s frustrating.”

That frustration isn’t just shared by the coaching staff.

It has carried over to the players, who have begun to tire Huggins with constant questions about playing time.

“You get, ‘Coach, what do I need to do to play?’ ” Huggins said. “How about play better. Throw the ball to the open man and we still don’t throw the ball to the open man.”

Huggins noted an opportunity in overtime, while the score was still tied, when WVU forward Derek Culver had good position on his defender in the paint, but never received the pass.

“We had not one, but two different guys look him off,” Huggins said. “ ‘Well, coach, I didn’t think he was open.’ Learn how to play, then.”

A lack of passing and not being able to hit outside shots — WVU was 2 of 17 from 3-point range against TCU — was a factor in the loss, something Huggins isn’t blaming just on a youthful lineup anymore.

“We’re 27 games in,” Huggins said. “They’re awfully slow learners, if that’s the case. Twenty-seven games is a lifetime.”

The Mountaineers (19-8, 7-7 Big 12) travel to Texas (16-11, 6-8) at 7 p.m. Monday, in what marks another critical opportunity to pick up a road victory.

WVU defeated the Longhorns by 38 in Morgantown, but Texas has won its last two, including a 70-59 road win at Kansas State on Saturday in which Courtney Ramey scored a career-high 26 points and Texas shot 42.1% (8 of 19) from 3-point range.

“We can’t make an open three. That’s a factor,” Huggins said. “We kept shooting them and we lost. If you’re into losing, then keep shooting them. I’m not.
“We’re going to have to figure out different ways to throw it in close.”

The problem there, Huggins said, is WVU isn’t making free throws when the ball is thrown into the low post.

“We threw it close and didn’t score,” Huggins said. “We shot an air ball from a foot away. We had some football guys come in with pads (during practice) and try to score the ball through contact. There wasn’t any contact here, he just shot an air ball.”

The Mountaineers will enter the game in fourth place in the Big 12 standings, but a loss could put the Mountaineers into a three-way tie for fourth, which could place them as low as the No. 7 seed in the conference tournament.

The top six teams earn a first-round bye.

“I’m tired of, ‘What do I have to do to play? Coach, just tell me why I’m not playing more?’ ” Huggins said. “Come on, man. Grow up. Those guys need to figure out a way to play. What am I supposed to tell them? Stop dribbling the ball when you’re supposed to pass it?”

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