MORGANTOWN — Bob Huggins reached a major milestone late Friday with his 902nd career coaching victory, which tied him with Bob Knight for fifth on the all-time Division I list.
He could reach another on Thursday, when the Mountaineers travel to the Charleston (S.C.) Classic to face Elon in the first round of a three-round tournament.
That could be career win No. 903, which would tie him for fourth with Roy Williams.
By the end of the season, Huggins could climb as high as third, passing Jim Calhoun (918 wins) along the way, not that any of this is tops on Huggins’ priority list.
“Guys, I’m telling you, and I know you think it’s B.S., but I don’t think about it. I really don’t,” Huggins said following WVU’s 74-59 victory against Pitt. “I have great respect for coach Knight. He’s become a good friend of mine. I’m happy for coach Knight, but I don’t really think about it.”
There are other things on Huggins’ mind these days where it concerns the Mountaineers (2-0), beginning with what exactly is he dealing with and does he have a team that can contend with the big boys in the Big 12?
As for what Huggins is dealing with in the makeup of his 2021-22 roster, it may just be one of the more interesting adjustments Huggins has made since coming to Morgantown.
This is not a big and powerful team, like he’s had in the past with guys like Derek Culver and Devin Williams.
It’s not a team with a dominant leader at point guard, as was the case in the days of Jevon Carter, Juwan Staten or Deuce McBride.
It’s not “Press” Virginia and it’s not the 2010 Final Four team that had so many interchangeable parts that a power forward like Devin Ebanks could guard a point guard or the small forward in Da’Sean Butler could actually play point guard.
Instead, this 2021-22 team — at least early on — seems to be forging its own path and identity, one that may be unlike anything we’ve seen before.
“We’ve really got good guys,” Huggins said. “People say that and they really don’t, but we really do. They want to do right.”
For this team to do it right means Huggins is forced to see these Mountaineers in a slightly different light.
For example, how many times in the past has WVU been out-rebounded over a two-game stretch by 31 and Huggins wasn’t completely losing his mind?
That’s exactly what has happened so far. Oakland led on the boards by 15 and Pitt came away with 16 more rebounds than the Mountaineers.
WVU had all of 20 rebounds against the Panthers. In Huggins’ 15 years at WVU, the Mountaineers have only played one game with fewer.
And yet Huggins said he was able to walk away Friday night believing his Mountaineers had played some pretty good defense.
Why? How?
WVU has forced 57 turnovers through two games. Kedrian Johnson and Malik Curry are mostly the cause of that. They are not traditional point guards, at least not what you think of in terms of what Staten and McBride were.
Yet they are able to relentlessly hound opponents into silly turnovers and bad plays, keeping opposing teams from getting comfortable along the way.
WVU has a shot blocker in Dimon Carrigan and a charge-taker in Gabe Osabouhien. No, these are not the same as rebounds, but their stats can have the same type of impact.
“I think this is how we have to play,” Huggins said. “We’re not big enough to go slug it out with people, so we’re going to have to make them play the way we play. We’re going to have to make them play faster. We’re going to have to make them put their head down and drive it at us. We can’t go down there and set up and let them play.”
It’s easy to say, “Well, WVU hasn’t exactly played anyone yet,” but WVU had it struggles against Akron in an exhibition win and then Akron gave No. 17 Ohio State all it wanted before losing by a point. Oakland turned around and beat Oklahoma State after playing WVU to a seven-point game.
This WVU team may have some unique strengths compared to Huggins’ past teams and the box scores may look different, too, but that doesn’t have to mean this team isn’t going to be just as competitive.
Just different. And different can be just as fun to watch once you get used to it.
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