West Virginia travels to Iowa State looking to build confidence, better NCAA resume

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Whether it be national rankings, NCAA tournament bracket projections or the NCAA’s NET rankings, all of it is just one mouse click away.

For his players, Bob Huggins makes it a point to wipe out the middle man.

“Every time they walk into the locker room, they know what we are today in the NET,” Huggins said. “They know what everybody we have left to play is in the NET. They know what everybody we play before is in the NET.”

Since the start of February, West Virginia has been in a downward spiral in every conceivable ranking.

That includes the Associated Press Top 25, which the Mountaineers (19-10, 7-9 Big 12) fell out of Monday, after spending 11 consecutive weeks in the poll.

There is a bigger picture, Huggins said, to be considered with WVU, which travels to Iowa State (12-17, 5-11) at 9 p.m. Tuesday in what represents the Mountaineers’ final true road game of the season.

NCAA NET rankings as of March 2

It has been a rather unkind road, one that has seen West Virginia go 1-7 in Big 12 play as the visitors.

“I think winning one in Sabraton would be good for confidence right now,” Huggins joked.

Overall, West Virginia has lost six of its last seven, and where the Mountaineers were once projected as a No. 2 seed in the NCAA tournament, WVU is now projected as a No. 7 seed.

That is where Huggins speaks of the bigger picture, and while the current snapshot is anything but a keeper, Huggins believes the Mountaineers are still worthy of a bid to the NCAA tournament.

“You have to look at the overall picture, because that’s what you’re judged by,” Huggins said. “We’ve struggled here of late. There is no doubt about that, and we have fallen from a potential No. 2 seed to a No. 7, but a seven is a long long way from not being in the tournament. We have to win some games, obviously. We need to win some games more for our psyche than anything.”

What exactly is the Mountaineers’ psyche? That may be the question of the day, because this is not the same WVU team that was once challenging both Baylor and Kansas at the top of the conference standings.

It is becoming closer to the shades of last season, when WVU lost a school-record 21 games, even though that team was never in position to reach the NCAA tournament.

“Honestly, the key word to all of this is ‘effort,’ ” WVU guard Jermaine Haley said. “I’ve said it 20 times already, but the one thing coach can’t do is go out and do it for us. He can give us the recipe and show us what to do, but we have to go out and execute what he’s teaching us. He’s teaching us good stuff, but we’re not executing. We’re tying his hands, because he goes down the book of what he can give us, but we’re not getting it done.”

The Cyclones will not make it easy for WVU to recover. Inside Hilton Coliseum, Iowa State is 5-2 against the Mountaineers, including a 93-68 beating there last season.

Iowa State is 2-4 since losing star sophomore guard Tyrese Haliburton to a wrist injury.

Still, Iowa State has averaged 66 points per game while shooting 44% as a team without him.

In West Virginia’s last six games, the Mountaineers are shooting 38% as a team and averaging 58.7 points per game.

“They’ve always made shots,” Huggins said. “I can’t remember playing Iowa State when they didn’t make shots. I think Haliburton was a creator for them. I think they’ve gone to more sets now that they don’t have him to create.

“They’re still going to score in transition. They make shots. You look around this league, Texas struggled to make shots and now they’re making shots. Oklahoma was struggling to make shots and now they’re making shots. This is a league, seemingly, where if you get hot, then everybody makes shots. We just need a couple of guys to get hot and I think we’ll be fine.”

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