West Virginia is undefeated through six-games for the first time in four seasons and this team has left little doubt to the blueprint on how it’s been accomplished.

A tried and true formula for head coach Bob Huggins that simply boils down to getting it done on defense and rebounding. Both were on full display in the most recent win, a 75-63 triumph in the Cancun Challenge championship game over a team that prides itself on similar morals in Wichita State.

The West Virginia defense held the Shockers to 30-percent (19-61) from the floor and an impressive 24-percent (6-25) from three. During the two games in Mexico, the Mountaineers held opponents known for their three-point shooting to date to 9-45 or 20-percent from beyond the arc.

That total was 36-percent last season.

The Mountaineers deny the ball or anything close to it to hound opposing players, while switching with their combination of size and athleticism.

And things could be even getting more interesting on that end of the floor.

“We’re working on a zone that we can play that’s different. I don’t want to go out there and stand in a 2-3 zone and wave at people. We’ve got I think something that we ran years ago at Cincinnati when I first got there that I think we can do,” Huggins said. “I think our bigs are mobile enough to do it. We’re going to continue to work on that.”

The Mountaineers dominated the glass to the tune of 48-31 and collected a total of 46-percent of their misses on the offensive end of the floor. On his 20th birthday, impressive freshman Oscar Tshiebwe finished with 19 points and 18 rebounds, the second time in six games he’s gone for at least 17 and 17.

How impressive of a feat is that? Well, it’s a mark that no other West Virginia player, forget freshman, has done in the same year since Mo Robinson pulled it off during the 1978-79 campaign. Sophomore Derek Culver added 9 rebounds of his own.

“I think those are two of the premiere rebounders certainly in our league and probably in the country,” Huggins said.

Those two elements have been fabrics of successful teams under Huggins over the years and this one is no different as they take pride in both.

The championship is the first for West Virginia in an in-season tournament since Jevon Carter led the Mountaineers to the AdvoCare Invitational over Missouri. And a stepping stone for what Huggins wants to accomplish after a highly disappointing 15-21 season.

Each player has a role and understands what it is. That is an important element to any successful team and if this Mountaineers club wants to be that, they’re on track.

“I really wanted it for our returners. They believed in us and endured and they love West Virginia,” he said. “They love West Virginia and they love the Mountaineers, love being a part of it. They deserve to have some good things happen for them.”

But six games a season does not make and things are only going to get tougher with first a match-up against a Rhode Island team that for all intents and purposes humiliated the Mountaineers a season ago. Then of course things will stiffen up West Virginia attempts to navigate the Big 12 slate.

“We’re not done here. This is a start,” Huggins said.

A start that anybody in the Mountain State would take over last year’s finish.

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