MORGANTOWN — There have been reports of bruises, scars, cuts that needed stitches and one broken nose.
No, this isn’t a story of the front line of a war. Rather, it’s the scenes of how physical practices have been with the WVU men’s basketball team this season.
“We had a broken nose, which I thought was a really good deal,” said WVU head coach Bob Huggins, while sporting a Harley-Davidson T-shirt underneath his pullover. “No, I’m teasing, but we did have a broken nose.”
Huggins called the incident, which saw WVU guard Seth Wilson collide with teammate Jimmy Bell Jr.’s nose, while they both went after a loose ball, a badge of courage.
It was a badge that was rarely worn a season ago, as the Mountaineers suffered through a 16-17 season.
It was a season in which big leads were lost or big deficits were seldom cut into. The Mountaineers were out-muscled in the paint and beaten badly on the boards.
To sum it up, like Huggins did, the Mountaineers simply weren’t tough.
“We weren’t competitive a year ago,” Huggins said. “We didn’t compete the way we needed to compete. You take Gabe [Osabuohien] out of the deal, we were really soft. We needed to get tougher.”
Not just in games, but in practice and likely from a mental standpoint, too.
So, how’s that working out so far?
“It’s going to change a lot,” senior point guard Kedrian Johnson said. “If you watch us practice, you’d think we were really tough. Like the other day, Jimmy’s nose was bleeding, James’ (Okonkwo) arm was cut. He was pretty tough and came back to practice and finished.”
Johnson, who battled through hip injuries for most of last season, was asked if that’s a typical practice under Huggins?
“Yeah, this year,” he responded.
There is no question the Mountaineers need to reach a higher level of competitiveness.
A season ago, WVU finished ninth in the Big 12 in rebounding, while also letting double-digit leads in the second halves against Texas and Iowa State turn into disappointing finishes.
WVU was the only team in the conference that allowed more points than it scored last season.
As the saying goes, when the going got tough, well, WVU generally found itself exiting out a side door.
Nine new faces — eight if you count the return of Emmitt Matthews Jr., who spent one season at Washington after starting his career with the Mountaineers — were brought in this season with the idea of finding guys who wouldn’t back down from a challenge.
Four of the newcomers are Division I transfers from the portal. They’ve been around the block a time or two, and they’re college eligibility is much closer to the end than the beginning.
There is a need to be part of a winner right now, not next year or the year after that. With that comes maturity, maybe even some attitude and a greater desire to succeed.
“The difference is how we bond off the court, as well as on the court,” Johnson said. “Compared to last year, there is a big change of people being in the gym working out and our attitudes on the court. We want to share the ball more and our chemistry is a lot better.”
A part of that can be credited to South Carolina transfer Erik Stevenson, who is in his final season of eligibility.
The guard brings with him a refuse-to-lose mentality — “I absolutely despise losing,” he said. — and with that, Stevenson has become a voice of leadership since his arrival.
“The thing that shows me we’re going to be a good team is we never came in here early in the mornings dreading to work out,” Stevenson said. “Running in the morning after three workouts the day before is never fun, but you never heard of anyone coming into the locker room complaining. We got through it, and then we had our fun on the weekend, you know what I mean?”
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