West Virginia trailed 52-43 against Clemson with 8:14 left to play in the third-place game of the Shriners Children’s Charleston Classic when the switch flipped.
Taking a page out of what they allowed to happen to them in the previous game against Marquette, the Mountaineers rallied outscoring 23-7 down the stretch run.
West Virginia took control of the game not only on the offensive end, but defensively as the Tigers struggled going 2-7 from the floor with three turnovers as the Mountaineers cranked up the intensity.
It was the opposite of what unfolded when Bob Huggins club let a 12-point halftime lead evaporate in under two minutes as the Golden Eagles shot 16-25 in the second half and 8-13 from three.
The type of response that the Mountaineers needed to show at this early junction of the season as the team is still trying to discover its identity and fit all the pieces into a puzzle.
“We responded. We were so much better defensively. We still had some deals where we were sitting there starring at the ball and they back cut us and shot layups,” Huggins said. “You can’t do that and win against good people like Clemson.”
The switch was flipped and the Mountaineers were able to record a nice early season win over a Clemson team that is oozing with potential.
West Virginia left the Palmetto State at 2-1 in the tournament beating Elon and Clemson, but it’s fair to point out that the Mountaineers let one get away from the against Marquette. Still, overall, the trip was salvaged by the comeback against the Tigers especially with how it was done.
“We were not very good the other day, actually we were bad the other day and they know it. They understand that we play in a hard, hard league and they know if they don’t start to play it’s going to be a long, long year,” Huggins said.
The Mountaineers now sit at 4-1 on the season with some more upcoming challenges in the non-conference schedule such as Connecticut and Arkansas remaining as well as the meat of the Big 12.
There’s a lot of work left to do, but this team finding a way to win was a big step in the right direction although it doesn’t mask Huggins’ thoughts that they could have had more.
“I’m not very happy. I wanted to get three and take a trophy back. But after we played as poorly as we played against Marquette, this was a really good win for us against a really good and an extremely well-coached team,” Huggins said.
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