Bob Huggins on WVU Players: ‘They Don’t Listen’

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins ranted about his players after the loss to Oklahoma, stating that they don’t listen to him or the staff.

“They were in trouble because they don’t listen,” Huggins said.

Huggins was irritated that the players didn’t follow through on directions given to them during scouting and the game. Huggins wanted his guys to stick with Oklahoma’s Tanner Groves, who ended up finishing with a double-double of 17 points and 10 rebounds. The future Hall of Fame coach tried to tell the team to watch for the back cuts, which resulted in 36 points in the paint, but to no prevail.

Long-time rotation players Sean McNeil and Gabe Osabuohien didn’t play much, as it appears they were in Huggins’ dog house. McNeil played 18 minutes, but only five minutes in the second half. Osabuohien played seven minutes for the entire game. Both players didn’t record a single foul, so they weren’t in foul trouble.

“When you got guys pouting on the bench, it really hurts you. We had pouters [on Tuesday],” Huggins said.

Guards Malik Curry and Kedrian “Keddy” Johnson have already talked about how the team does a poor job of listening to the coaching staff.

“If we pay attention to scout and stop teams from doing what they do best, I feel like we’ll be good,” Curry said last month. “I think it starts with us as players listening to the coaching staff.”

As the regular season concludes this week, the players will have to really pay attention to the staff to make adjustments during the final stretch of the season.