The gritty, gutsy West Virginia 72-69 win over Iowa State was an exercise in growth.

This team likely doesn’t win that game in that same situation earlier in the season after the Mountaineers gave up an early lead and fell behind late in the second half.

How do I know? The Mountaineers had already lost several similar games at various points of the year to a number of teams such as Kansas State, Oklahoma State, Baylor and Oklahoma.