West Virginia has lost nine of their last ten basketball games and in the most recent defeat did so without the services of senior forward Gabe Osabuohien.

Throughout the matchup with Kansas State, Osabuohien was spotted on the bench in a pull over and never appeared close to entering the contest.

Osabuohien wasn’t suspended, but did not play due to a coaches’ decision after a string of three technical fouls over the past two games. The latest was a pair of technical fouls in the waning moments of the 23-point loss to Oklahoma State which led to his ejection.

The Canadian import then exchanged words with head coach Bob Huggins before being led away to the locker room. That was on the heels of a technical foul for saying something to the officials entering the halftime break of the Iowa State contest, a game the Mountaineers would win.

“He wasn’t suspended but we don’t have room in our program for Gabe’s actions,” Huggins said. “If that was the first, O.K. you lost it. I understand you can’t do that anymore but it wasn’t the first time.”

Osabuohien is averaging 4.8 points, 5.7 rebounds and 1.6 assists on the season and his presence is especially noticeable on the glass and defensive end of the floors. He also has developed into more of an offensive threat this season but Huggins doesn’t believe that his absence cost his team the game.

“Isaiah (Cottrell) gave us things that Gabe can’t give us. The ability to step out there and shoot which draws that big out of the lane,” Huggins said.

Despite the decision not to play Osabuohien in this game, Huggins has left the door open for him to reclaim his minutes and role with the team down the stretch run of the year. But there has to be a sense of accountability when your actions affect the rest of the team.

“It’s about doing the right thing and you don’t do things that hurt your teammates and he knows that,” Huggins said. “He’s mature enough to understand those things and mature enough to understand there’s consequences when you do the wrong things.”

But moving forward Huggins assured media members that Osabuohien isn’t in his bad graces, he just wants those in the program to represent what West Virginia basketball is about.

“I have all the respect and admiration for the basketball program, the people who have played here, the people who have coached here and the manner in which they played the game. And we’re not going to vary from that,” Huggins said.

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