CINCINNATI — There was no welcome mat waiting for Bob Huggins outside the Cintas Center on Saturday.
Huggins, who spent 16 years coaching at the University of Cincinnati — just four miles from city rival Xavier’s campus — entered the arena to a chorus of boos.
During the course of Xavier’s 84-74 victory in the Big East-Big 12 Battle game, the Musketeers’ student section also threw out several chants of D-U-I, eluding to Huggins’ arrest in 2004 for driving under the influence.
“I’m disappointed in our effort and I’m disappointed in the way we played the game,” Huggins said when asked if this trip back to Cincinnati felt any different. “Other than that, no. It seems like the same people are still there.”
The crowd of 10,460 was the 29th largest crowd all-time inside the Cintas Center.
Leading the way?
Erik Stevenson led the Mountaineers with 16 points on 5 of 13 shooting, but he had to be summoned to the bench throughout the game when his emotions ran high.
At the end of the game, Stevenson and Xavier guard Souley Boum had to be separated before the two teams went to through the handshake line.
WVU associate head coach Larry Harrison escorted Stevenson to the team’s locker room.
Bank is open
Before Xavier outscored the Mountaineers 48-31 in the second half, WVU had its offense going in full gear.
That included two banked-in 3-pointers; one from Emmitt Matthews Jr. and one from Seth Wilson.
Wilson’s three with 2:42 left in the first half gave WVU its largest lead of the game, 41-30.
In the first half, WVU shot 54% from the field, but the Mountaineers were held to just 39% in the second half, and no threes were banked in.
“It’s a matter of us executing and doing the right things in the right moments,” WVU forward Tre Mitchell said. “Clearly, it’s not what we did tonight. There were some possessions where we just threw the ball straight out of bounds. That’s us coming together and having a will versus a want.”
News and notes
With the loss, the Big East took a 5-4 lead in the challenge series with today’s matchup between St. John’s and No. 23 Iowa State standing as the final game of the challenge series this season.
The Big East and Big 12 have finished tied the last two seasons with the Big East winning the inaugural one in 2019.
WVU, a former member of the Big East from 1995-2012, is now 165-179 against Big East competition.
Huggins is 8-11 all-time against the Musketeers.
Xavier is 4-0 in Big East-Big 12 Battle games, while WVU is 2-2.
Former WVU men’s basketball strength coach Andy Kettler is in his first season at Xavier in the same position.
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