West Virginia didn’t play well in the first half against North Texas. And that’s a massive understatement.

The Mountaineers held the Mean Green without scoring any points for over eight minutes and still somehow found themselves down 29-21 at the break. A testament to just how poorly things were going for head coach Bob Huggins team as they mustered only .677 points per possession on 31 trips.

Shooting only 9-35 from the field, West Virginia also permitted North Texas to rack up 20 of their 29 total points in the paint. It was the type of effort you’d expect to see out of a team that had a game scheduled only days before and were tipping off in the late afternoon.

Huggins used a as many lineup combinations as he had all season and sat down several of his players for the duration of the half after he had issues with their effort.

But it wasn’t the type of effort that Huggins demands and that was obvious at the half.

“We just didn’t play hard. I can deal with missed shots. I can deal with missed free throws. I can’t deal with not playing hard. We didn’t play hard,” he said. “That was not my team out there.”

So, Huggins woke them up, as he was fondly put it. And the message was received loud and clear.

West Virginia raced out to an 18-0 run to open the second frame largely fueled by a pressure defense that prevented North Texas from getting into what they wanted to do. The Mountaineers used that pressure to disrupt the offensive rhythm of the Mean Green after they had success running the clock and scoring late in the possession in the first frame.

“We weren’t really trying to steal the ball or make a lot of plays on the ball, we were just trying to slow them down, so we didn’t have to guard them for the whole clock,” Huggins said.

West Virginia would never trail after taking the lead back in the second half and while it wasn’t quite as comfortable as you’d like, it was the type of response you’d expect out of the No. 11 team in the nation. After a lackluster first half effort, the Mountaineers were able to secure their fifth win in six games.

This year has presented plenty of challenges with teams being forced to move around games and adjust to things that typically aren’t an issue. But the lesson learned for West Virginia was that it takes effort every time out and an edge on the floor. That’s the identity of this club.

“Our team is struggling with playing to our competition a lot which if we don’t cut it out now it’s going to get us in the long run,” junior center Derek Culver said. “My team is just really struggling playing to our competition and lowering our standards and not capitalizing on the things we normally capitalize.”

It also was a sticking point for Huggins because he wasn’t able to insert his younger players into the game because of how close things were. Largely fueled on the backs of that lack of effort.

Things won’t get any easier Sunday, with a talented Richmond club coming to town. One that West Virginia won’t be able to afford to find itself in a sizeable hole from the jump.

“We’ve got to prepare and get ready,” junior guard Sean McNeil said.

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