Huggins, WVU begin to put pieces together in home opener against Mount St. Mary’s

MORGANTOWN — There may be some kind of witty remark to be made about the mystery that lies with the WVU men’s basketball team, although any attempt to do so could entirely miss the mark.

Truth is, maybe no one truly knows what to expect from this group of Mountaineers, because we hardly know who most of them are.

That begins to change at 7 p.m. Monday, as WVU hosts Mount St. Mary’s (Emmitsburg, Md.) at the Coliseum in the season opener for both schools.

Nine new players have been added since WVU exited Kansas City last March in the Big 12 tournament to cap off a disappointing 16-17 season.

That number will rise to 10, as guard Jose Perez will enroll soon after completing a mid-semester transfer from Manhattan. He’ll be eligible to begin practice after enrolling and is expected to be able to play at the end of the fall semester.

Of those 10, only forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. is recognizable, after beginning his career at WVU before transferring to Washington and then transferring back this summer.

And then there is the injuries to newcomers Tre Mitchell (foot) and Pat Suemnick (knee). Neither have been cleared to practice and will not be available Monday.

The five returning players? Only Kedrian Johnson was a starter and the other four were freshmen who saw limited action.

Got all that? If so, you’re in rare company.

“We’re getting there,” WVU head coach Bob Hugins said. “What do I say? I think we’re progressing. We’ve got to guard better. We don’t rebound it the way we need to rebound it yet. We throw it around too much, but I guess that happens this time of year when you’ve got a bunch of new guys.”

Which is sort of the point. How long will it take for WVU to find some sort of common ground with so many new faces running around?

“Naturally when you go through changes, you have to adjust,” said guard Seth Wilson, one of the four freshmen who saw limited action last season. “Every guy that came along, we welcomed with open arms. It wasn’t an issue. It wasn’t something hard to get used to. It was like, ‘O.K., we’ve got this guy now. Let’s make sure he understands what we do.’ ”

There is a flip side to this tale, which is to say the Mountaineers were in need of an injection of new blood after finishing last in the Big 12 and giving up the most points in the league.

Three former starters transferred and leading scorer Taz Sherman exhausted his eligibility.

On paper, that doesn’t look so good, but Huggins has a different opinion on the subject.

“Sometimes subtraction is better than addition,” he said. “Hopefully we have filled spots of guys that left with guys who are better than the ones who left. That’s the hope.”

And so, maybe a few edge pieces of the puzzle get pieced together against Mount St. Mary’s — also nicknamed the Mountaineers — who is coming off a 14-16 season and returns three starters from that team.

But, it’s a large puzzle, with a few pieces currently missing.

The only thing we know for sure is what WVU has on the court today, could look totally different come January, in maybe more ways than one.

That does not bother Huggins in the least.

“They all knew what they were getting when they came here,” Huggins said. “They all knew they would have to be competitive to play. Believe it or not, they’re relishing the opportunity to be competitive.”

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