MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — In the list of never-ending examples of how every game counts, Bob Huggins could have already surpassed legendary North Carolina coach Dean Smith on the all-time Division I wins list.
As it stands, both men are tied at No. 6 on the list at 879 wins following No. 17 West Virginia’s 65-47 victory against Oklahoma State on Tuesday.
Their career paths crossed three times, with the first-ever meeting seeing a then-39 year-old Huggins coaching against Smith in the Elite Eight of the 1993 NCAA tournament.
“I didn’t really worry about Dean,” Huggins said. “I worried about the guys he had on his team.”
A fourth-ranked Tar Heels team featuring 7-footer Eric Montross pulled out a 75-68 overtime win and went on to beat Michigan’s Fab Five for the national championship two games later.
Had Huggins’ Cincinnati Bearcats pulled out that win, Smith would have finished with 878 wins and Huggins would have passed him on Feb. 5, when the Mountaineers knocked off Iowa State.
The final two meetings between Huggins and Smith came in non-conference play over the next two seasons and North Carolina won both games.
UNC was ranked either No. 1 or No. 2 during those games and had a couple of players you may have heard of in Rasheed Wallace and Jerry Stackhouse.
“We were starting four freshmen, if I remember, and we were playing down there. They had guys. Later on, we played them in a deal in Charlotte and that’s when he had Rasheed and Stackhouse and all of those guys. I never gave Dean one thought. I’m more worried about how we guard these guys.”
There is a personal connection between the two, one that was formed at numerous meetings at coaching clinics and during Michael Jordan’s fantasy camps.
Huggins said in his early coaching days at Akron, he would, “help set up the room,” for the clinics and would soak in any moments he could get with the coaches he respected.
“Dean Smith is there. Roy Williams is there and (Jerry) Tarkanian and Abe Lemons and Lou Carnesecca and Jim Valvano,” Huggins said. “Man, I was in heaven. I’m just sitting there trying to take everything in.
“I’m very fortunate to be in the generation that I’m in that I was able to spend tons of time with Al McGuire and guys like that. Those are people I admire and those are people that I learned a lot from. Those are people who taught me a lot about this business.”
True to Huggins’ form, passing Smith on the list with his next victory will not be a cause for celebration for him.
“When people keep asking me, ‘What do you think about being whatever?’ I don’t pay any attention,” he said. “Those are my friends. What do I care?”
Back on the boards
For the first time since Jan. 4 — West Virginia’s first conference game of the season at Kansas — both Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 10 or more rebounds in the same game.
Tshiebwe had 15 and Culver added 10 off the bench in what helped WVU dominate Oklahoma State on the glass, 42-29.
“That’s my job,” Tshiebwe said. “Coaches tell me all the time when people try to keep me from scoring, just go grab everything. Tonight, every time I caught the ball in the post, I had two or three people near me. I knew it was going to be hard to finish, so I just went and grabbed everything.”
TWEET @bigjax3211
