WVU must get back to what they do
Bob Huggins wasn’t happy with his team’s performance against Fordham but all wasn’t lost by any means and there's plenty of positives to gleam.
“We played bad and scored 86. That’s not a bad deal when you play really bad and score 86,” he said. “We played bad, shot bad and passed it bad.”
The Mountaineers were uncharacteristically hard to coach against the Rams, as players found themselves breaking the golden rule of playing under Huggins – simply going out of their element and trying to do what they can’t do on the floor.
The veteran head man couldn’t quite put his finger on it whether it was the approaching Christmas break or underestimating the opponent but it wasn’t a typical effort on the floor from the group.
“Let’s get back to what we do,” he said.
When it comes to shooting the ball there are three simply questions players must ask themselves.
“Know when, know where and know why,” Huggins said.
The Mountaineers shot 45-percent from the floor, but attempted 30 three-pointers connecting on only ten of those during the course of the game.
“We’re supposed to be high level major college players we ought to be able to make a shot,” he said.
Huggins is hoping that this was a one-game aberration as the Mountaineers prepare to embark on the start of its Big 12 Conference slate with back-to-back road games at Oklahoma State and Kansas State. In a league that many believe is the top league in America, there won’t be time for sluggish efforts.
Part of the difficulty of the conference slate is how familiar the teams are with one another.
“They know what we’re going to do and we know what they’re going to do,” Huggins said. “We know their tendencies and they know our tendencies.”
The goal now is to get into the gym and ready themselves for the next stage of the schedule, one that will likely prove much more difficult than the opening 12 games. Huggins also hopes that after missing a game due to an ankle injury, sophomore Lamont West can work his way back into shape.
“We’re playing two games on the road, because we’re not in school it knocks out two of those long trips,” Huggins said.
