MORGANTOWN — The 2021-22 basketball season, where it concerns the West Virginia men’s team, has officially become the sad story that simply rewrites itself.
The Mountaineers, without question, competed and went toe-to-toe with No. 14 Texas Tech on Saturday, before falling 60-53 in the final seconds.
That could be seen on the face of Sean McNeil, as he wiped blood from the corner of his mouth in the final minutes.
It could be seen in the ferocity of Gabe Osabuohien’s drives to the basket and the way he battled down low with career highs with 13 rebounds and five blocked shots.
Effort is not in question from this bunch. It wasn’t the problem in Monday’s loss on the road against Baylor. The effort was great in the second half against Arkansas and wasn’t the problem against Oklahoma and, well, you get the point.
The problem is a mixed bag, between a lack of ability jumbled up with a series of unfortunate things that turn into excuses for losing.
On Saturday against Texas Tech, “You can’t win when you’re 4 for 32,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said of his team’s shooting in the second half. “I thought our effort was fine. How do you win when shooting 4 for 32?”
The answer, of course, is you don’t win. Just like you don’t win when your best player in Taz Sherman gets hit upside the head and sustains a concussion in the final minutes of a tied game against Baylor. That concussion kept Sherman from playing against Texas Tech.
You also don’t win when you don’t rebound against Arkansas or get killed in the paint against Kansas.
“It seems things happen to us that don’t happen to other people,” Huggins said. “There were some plays that probably should have gone our way, that didn’t. They came at critical times when we were trying to get back into the game or stay even or stay ahead a little but. You’ve got to make that stuff happen and we don’t make it happen.”
WVU has lost seven in a row. That’s tied for the longest losing streak under Huggins’ watch.
In all seven — minus the debacle at Kansas last month — it’s been the same story. WVU plays close in the first half, maybe even keeps it close to a certain point in the second half and then the opponent simply finds a way to win.
Why? Because these other teams have better players. They certainly have better talent at point guard and they certainly have better talent around the rim.
You say that and remember that WVU just lost point guard Deuce McBride to the NBA last season, as well as Derek Culver, an all-Big 12 player.
They left school early, and while it’s maybe a little easier to rebuild quickly these days with 1,500 free agents to choose from in the transfer portal, it’s still not an exact science.
Whoever evaluated WVU’s selections from the portal this season has proven that.
And this isn’t throwing all the blame on the portal guys, because WVU is hurting all over, mostly at point guard.
WVU had six assists against Texas Tech, just one in the second half. Of course, it’s tough to rack up assists when you’re not making baskets, which is another deal.
Just a day before, Huggins had talked up his freshmen guards in Jamel King and Seth Wilson on how they could make shots and how Huggins wanted to get them more playing time.
Neither saw a second against the Red Raiders, even after shots continued to clang off the rim one after the other.
“I thought that was as physical a game as we’ve played in a while,” Huggins said. “Why would I throw a 170-pound guy who is a freshman (King) who has never been in that situation. He had no chance, no chance in that situation. He’s going to be a really good player, but he had no chance in that situation.”
How much chance the Mountaineers have moving forward remains to be seen. Sherman can come back and give the team a spark, but that doesn’t fix bad passes, bad rebounders and bad plays at the most critical of moments.
Those are down-the-road fixes now, with different guys and new recruits.
For now, it’s great the effort is there, but what this season has shown is it takes a heck of a lot more than effort.”
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