Huggins’ mission is to finish season with players who show desire, as WVU travels to Iowa State

MORGANTOWN — There was little in the way of shut-eye for Bob Huggins in the early morning hours Tuesday.

Having just gone through a 77-67 loss against TCU on Monday — the Mountaineers’ 11th loss in 12 games — WVU’s head coach said he was going to study film to determine who was playing with effort and who was simply going through the motions.

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Since WVU’s struggles have continued to grow since mid-January, Huggins has questioned many times his players’ desire to compete.

Following last week’s loss against Kansas, Huggins reached back to the memory of the 2010 Final Four to give an example of what he’s looking for.

In doing so, there is no mention of stars like Da’Sean Butler, Devin Ebanks or Kevin Jones.

“I’d give my right arm for Cam Thoroughman,” Huggins said.

Thoroughman was undersized and not the most athletic of power forwards, but made up for that with toughness, intelligence and the willingness to never back down.

“He competed. He wanted to win,” Huggins continued. “He loved the university, loved the state and the people. He wanted to represent them. I’m not saying our guys don’t have that now. They just don’t have the same desire.”

That was evident on Monday. Huggins admitted afterward he believed TCU was an opponent the Mountaineers (14-13, 3-11 Big 12) matched up with favorably, yet the Horned Frogs came out with an aggressive plan to drive to the basket, while WVU defenders did little to stop it.

“They ran by us like we were standing on the curb,” Huggins said.

And so came Huggins’ late night of watching film, looking to see who was trying to keep TCU players from dominating on the boards or who was trying to keep his man from going to the basket.

More importantly, Huggins said he’s looking at some changes.

“Maybe we’re starting the wrong guys,” Huggins said. “That could be. Maybe we got some guys who shouldn’t be playing at all.”

Which brings us to Wednesday’s 7 p.m. road game against Iowa State (18-9, 5-9), which was in last place in the Big 12 when it fell to WVU on Feb. 8 in Morgantown, but has since won two of its last three.

As far as postseason play, the Cyclones have more on the line in this one. For WVU, Huggins said the rest of the season represents a search to simply find which players on the roster still care about what happens.

“I’m going to go back and look at the game, and the guys who didn’t give us what we expect them to give us are going to sit over on the bench and watch the guys who do compete,” Huggins said. “If they open their mouth on the bench, I’m going to send them home.”

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