West Virginia Thumped by TCU

Matchup
FG Made-Attempted	23-60	29-61
Field Goal %	38.3	47.5
3PT Made-Attempted	3-18	12-28
Three Point %	16.7	42.9
FT Made-Attempted	18-24	28-37
Free Throw %	75.0	75.7
Total Rebounds	38	39
Offensive Rebounds	17	15
Defensive Rebounds	21	24
Team Rebounds	0	0
Assists	15	20
Steals	5	11
Blocks	4	6
Total Turnovers	17	13
Personal Fouls	26	21
Technical Fouls	2	0
Flagrant Fouls	0	0

The West Virginia Mountaineers (8-9, 0-5) fell to 0-5 in conference play for the first time since 2001-02 in a 98-67 beatdown by the Texas Christian Horned Frogs (13-3, 2-2) 98-67.

West Virginia guard Beetle Bolden picked up second foul inside the first two minutes of the game. As a result, the Mountaineers went 2-11 from the floor before Wesley Harris hit a mid-range jumper at the 10:13 mark, trailing 21-9.

The Mountaineers had nine turnovers before head coach Bob Huggins took a chance and put Beetle back into the game with 7:35 left. It paid dividends.

Beetle’s six points sparked a 10-2 run, getting West Virginia back within single digits 23-32.

Alex Robinson was driving and dishing the ball for 10 first half points and five assists. West Virginia couldn’t find any answers, finishing the half shooting 2-9 from the field and subsequently TCU built a 20-point lead at the half, 48-28.

Desmond Bane took over the start of the second half scoring seven of his 17 second half points in the first five minutes as TCU continued to dominate leading by 31 points.

West Virginia trailed by as much as 35 points in the second half and never got the Horned Frog lead under 25 points. The Mountaineers shooting troubles was a big part of TCU pummeling WVU throughout the second half. WVU shot 38.2% from the field and 1-11 from three-point range.

Bob Huggins joined the voice of the Mountaineers Tony Caridi after the game.

“I thought if we had finished plays, we’d been up about 12-2 to start the game.” Stated Huggs. “We didn’t finish plays, we missed one-footers we missed tip-ins. They were told the whole preparation, if they dribble to your side your guy is going to back cut. It never sank in.”

“We come out of the huddle and we switch from man-to-man to 2-3 zone and one of our veteran guys says, ‘who am I guarding?’. Huggins said continuing to voice his frustrations. “Quite frankly we just got guys – they’re not worried about the right thing. I just told them in there that the West Virginia on the front means way, way, way more to me than their name on the back. We’ll get it fixed. It may not be this year, but we will get it fixed. I promise you we’ll get it fixed.”

West Virginia got into foul trouble early and seemingly, Huggins commented on the officiating. “Everybody strives for consistency. But there’s a small group that seems to get away with not being consistent. How do you really tell if a guy bumps into you or you bump into him? How do you really know that?”

Part of the Mountaineers struggles have been the ability to score and with Beetle getting to quick fouls, WVU found themselves trailing by double digits early. “He’s (Beetle) been in foul trouble for the last three – four games and we haven’t been able to play him.” Explained Huggins. “I tried to play him a little more in the first half with two fouls. We need him on the floor.”

As much as Beetle is needed, the Mountaineers still should be able play with effort and Huggs gives an example.

“They kind of have a breakout. Our guy comes down the floor and blocks the shot and their guy ran right by our next guy in line to get down the floor and caught it and dunked it in. And now you’re the guy who just made a great effort play, which it was, and you turn around looking and there is your teammate jogging down the floor. That’s not team work at all. And that’s something we haven’t had.  I mean, we haven’t had that kind of stuff happen, we played hard. We got a lot of guys with a lot of answers that don’t even know the problems. We got too many guys that think they’re smarter than they are, and we got way too many guys that think they are better than they are. That’s OK. We’ve had teams that weren’t very talented, but you know, they tried.”

Huggins then reflected on one of his favorite players. “I go back to one of my favorite guys of all time is Cam Thoroughman because Cam Thoroughman was a six-foot-five, six-foot-six center in the Big East and did everything you asked him to do. And played hard and played physical. And wanted to win in the worst way. I’ll take those guys. I’d rather have those guys.

Huggins was talking about the hard-working people of West Virginia and how much they appreciate seeing toughness and effort. Huggins found the lack of effort embarrassing.

“Quite frankly you ask me, I’m embarrassed.” Stated Huggins. “I don’t know what to do. It’s not like we haven’t given everybody a chance. I don’t know what to do. I tell a guy today we’re going to clear a side for you so you can drive it. He says, can I drive it left I said no you can’t dribble left. Drive the ball right or don’t drive it all and he drove it left. I just haven’t had that happen. It won’t happen again, cause I’ll never ever, ever give him the ball like that again. That’s it. I think I know a little bit about what I’m doing and that’s defiance. I’m not going to do it. If they think they’re stronger minded than I am, they think they’re tougher than I am, than they got a long, long way to go. I’ll fix it. I hope I can fix it this year. I mean, we’ve had times we’ve played pretty well. But tonight, was embarrassing”

Huggs knows they can run get back to more of the Press Virginia style. “It’s not that they can’t. It’s too much work.” Voiced an irritated Huggins. “We got a bunch of guys that won’t work. We tried to bring them along and that was a mistake. We should have just done and done and done it and done it and if they didn’t like it then leave and we didn’t. As much as I hate and as much as it irritates me, we kind of gave in a little bit.”

West Virginia hosts Kansas this Saturday afternoon at 2:00 pm est inside the WVU Coliseum Saturday.