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Energy, aggressiveness key for WVU

Huggins has challenged his team.
Huggins has challenged his team.

Coming into Monday night’s game against Texas, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins challenged his team to play with energy.

The Mountaineers accomplished just that with the help of three freshmen in Lamont West, Sagaba Konate and Maciej Bender who gave the team a first half spark that translated into a second half domination and a season sweep of the Longhorns.

“I thought those freshmen came in and really gave us a bunch of energy,” Huggins said. “Press was better. They made shots at the rim. They got the crowd involved. I thought they were really the key to getting the lead at halftime.”

Another thing that stood out from Monday’s win was West Virginia’s ability to overcome an early deficit, take a convincing lead and maintaining that lead as well as its dominance for the for the rest of the game.

West Virginia has become notorious for blowing big leads this season and coming out on the losing end in those games, which happened against Oklahoma, Kansas and nearly occurred again against Texas Tech. Instead, staying in an attack mode paid off for the Mountaineers against the Longhorns.

“We didn’t let them come back like they normally do,” junior guard Jevon Carter said. “We just stayed on the attack mode.”

Overall, the past two games against Texas Tech and Texas have said a lot about West Virginia since its collapse in Lawrence. Against the Red Raiders, the Mountaineers proved that when faced with adversity and with their backs against the wall that they are capable of producing a win in tight games and have the depth and stamina to do so.

Against Texas, West Virginia put its ability to play overcome a rough start and ability to maintain a large second half lead on display.

For the Mountaineers to be able to rebound and win in the clutch against Texas Tech as well as finish off a game as strong as they did against Texas are all positive signs and moving forward when it comes to the team’s confidence and mentality.

With only three regular season games remaining and March soon approaching, the college basketball world will know soon enough what this erratic West Virginia team is truly made of but these past two games show that the team is moving in the right direction.

The Mountaineers are currently second in the Big 12 standings behind Kansas and in front of both Baylor and Iowa State. West Virginia, Baylor and Iowa State each have a 10-5 conference record.

Road Trips to TCU and Baylor remain as well as one final home game next Friday against Iowa State. If West Virginia is able close out the regular season on a five-game win streak, the Mountaineers would earn the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and more momentum on their side.

West Virginia is lock in the NCAA tournament. Now, the Mountaineers are playing for a higher seed in both the Big 12 and NCAA tournaments. There’s no doubt that these games ahead for West Virginia are winnable, it’s just a question of whether the team can keep up its momentum and use this energy and aggression to its full advantage.

“We need to go get a couple more on the road,” Huggins said. “We’re just trying to win, man.”

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