West Virginia must fix itself, before worrying about others

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins believes his basketball team has been close at times despite the recent skid.

Unfortunately, close doesn’t matter for anything when it comes to stacking wins and trying to put yourself in better position for the NCAA Tournament.

While West Virginia can’t erase what has already happened, the veteran coach has remained optimistic about his team’s fortunes despite a 14-11 record.

“We’ve had two or three games where a bounce, a call, a turnover and we could have won the game,” he said. “We haven’t gone one. Taz gets knocked out and they let him lay there for seemingly three days before they stopped play. It’s been a calamity of errors, not all ours.”

One department that has plagued this team has been the response out of the locker room. It was evident in the first meeting with Kansas and has been present in multiple games this year where the Mountaineers have gone cold after highly competitive basketball over the first 20-minutes.

You can’t control some of the things that have led to where West Virginia currently finds itself, but that is certainly one that can make a drastic difference if changes occur.

“We’ve just come out in the second half flat. We’ve got to figure out a way to get these guys ready for the second half,” Huggins said.

Accomplishing that is obviously easier said than done, but Huggins isn’t opposed to using some of the tricks up his sleeve that he’s learned over the years to motivate his club including quite literally tricking his club.

Finding a way to get senior guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil to make shots would go a long way toward rejuvenating a West Virginia club that continues to fight despite losing nine of their last ten.

While one has played well at times, the Mountaineers have struggled to have both hitting shots in the same game which is difficult for a team that struggles offensively.

“When your two best guys don’t make shots, it’s hard,” he said.

Huggins also hopes to welcome back senior forward Gabe Osabuohien for Kansas after he did not suit up in the loss to Kansas State. He was tagged with three technical fouls over a two-game span and Huggins elected not to put him in the game against the Wildcats.

Whether Osabuohien returns is ultimately up to him, but the door is open as the veteran head coach simply said that he is often his worst enemy and has to worry about taking care of himself.

“He hasn’t figured that out yet. I think he will. He has one more day of practice to figure that out and if he doesn’t he’s going to sit on the bench,” he said.

The Mountaineers sit at No. 68 in the NET with six games left starting with the matchup with the Jayhawks. Every game left on the schedule is an opportunity for this team due to those teams being rated higher in those rankings, but none of that will matter if they can’t clean up their own issues.

“We’re going to have to play better than we’ve played but they’re winnable,” Huggins said. “We’re very much a part of it.”

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