Morgantown, West Virginia – A stunning loss to Oklahoma State left Bob Huggins confused, frustrated and out of answers.
Huggins was obviously extremely disappointed in his team’s performance, saying, “Our lack of enthusiasm was very concerning. After all of these years, I don’t know what to do. I gave them 2 days off and that didn’t help. I don’t know what to do.
We had no bounce. We had absolutely no bounce. This team lives and dies by making three point shots. We don’t have drivers, we only have shooters.
When Sean McNeil and Jalen Bridges shoot airballs, we’re going to have problems. Derek Culver couldn’t finish it inside. Whatever it was, whatever we needed, we didn’t have it.”
Huggins said his team lacked enthusiasm and “bounce” both offensively and on the defensive side of the ball.
“We had no bounce whatsoever. They (Oklahoma State) got anything they wanted. We are a very poor defensive team and we rely on making shots. When we don’t make shots, we don’t win. We’re not very big or strong or athletic. We’re shooters. When we don’t make shots, we lose.”
Huggins went on to say that his players seem unaffected by losses like this.
“I don’t think our team understands the importance of games like this. When you try to lay out what’s ahead of us, they don’t seem to get it. We’re not going to finish 2nd in the conference now. It doesn’t seem to resonate with our guys.”
The major issue with the Mountaineers this season has been opponents being able to get into the lane and make easy layups and dunks, and Huggins was once again at a loss at what to do about it.
“We don’t have a shot-blocker. We don’t have an Elijah Macon or Devin Williams. Other teams will go straight to the rim against us because we don’t get in front of them.
Inconsistency has killed us. I’m not going to fight with these guys and try to get them to play hard. I’m not going to do that at this time of the year.”
West Virginia will now likely be a 4 seed in the Big 12 Tournament and will play at 11:30 on Thursday. Very, very disappointing game for the Mountaineers today.
