Bob Huggins Is Determined To Piece Together A Full Schedule
Solidifying a schedule for the 2020-21 men’s basketball season has been nothing short of a challenge for West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.
Now standing at 5-1, the Mountaineers have added five opponents to their schedule due to COVID-19 related conflicts. The teams not originally slated to square off against the Mountaineers include North Texas, who West Virginia defeated in Friday’s home opener, and No. 1 Gonzaga, who dealt the Mountaineers their single loss of the season on Dec. 2. None of the schedule changes have resulted from positive tests within the WVU’s program.
Huggins expects that the struggle to piece together a schedule will continue for the remainder of the season. While he can direct his players and staff on how to remain healthy, Huggins is unable to influence how other programs manage COVID-19 related precautions. Whether or not slated opponents will be in healthy enough standing to play out their scheduled games against the Mountaineers is out of his control.
Huggins credited his players for the team’s lack of positive COVID-19 tests and spoke highly of their commitment to isolating themselves in order to stay healthy.
“They’ve been fantastic, actually, in trying to do the right thing and take care of themselves,” Huggins said in a meeting with the media on Tuesday. “Is it a sacrifice for them? Absolutely, but our guys have been great. I can’t say enough about how much they want to play games and they know they have to do the right thing to play games.”
According to Huggins, the worst possible scenario for the program would be to send players home.
Over the summer, five players and one staff member tested positive for the coronavirus, which caused the program to shut down entirely for two weeks. Since then, West Virginia men’s basketball has had a perfect record in avoiding positive COVID-19 tests.
“We ended virtually every workout since with, ‘This is up to you guys. If you guys want to play, you can’t put yourself in a bad spot.’ I understand, it’s hard.”
Huggins is adamant that he, his staff and players will do everything in their power to fill out a full 27-game regular-season schedule.
When asked why he deems finishing the season vital, Huggins simply replied, “we owe it to the kids.”
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