Huggins Calls Out 'Leaders' After WVU's Sluggish Showing at TCU
In this story:
Although it was only a four-point loss, it may have been one of the worst performances the Mountaineers put on display this season.
How so?
The three E's: energy, effort, and enthusiasm - none of which existed in the loss to TCU.
Time and time again TCU would blow your right by the defender and get to the rim without much effort. Help side defense was more of a stand to the side than help kind of thing. And the rotations and communication was extremely poor.
Because of it, the Horned Frogs dominated the paint, where they scored 48 points, many of which were open layups and dunks.
"Totally absurd for the guys that we have," said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. "And then I think what happened is you got guys making excuses and that kind of thing. And the guys who are supposed to be our leaders did not lead. So, we may have to find ourselves some new leaders. You can't have your leaders pouting because they made mistakes. It's their fault. It's not anybody else's fault. And that's guys that have been here for a long time. They're the guys that are supposed to come out here jacked up ready to play. This is it for them. They're done after this year. They just didn't give us the enthusiasm and the competitiveness and toughness that they generally do."
This is something Christopher Hall and myself talked about during the Mountaineers Now Postgame Show last night. Where does this arrogance come from? This team hasn't proved anything. Well, they've proved that they can lose games on the road in conference play but that's nothing to be proud about. To show up to a game where the other team is missing its leading scorer and that's the effort that is put on display? Yeah, that's concerning.
This group has the talent to do damage in the Big 12 but they can't have the mentality that they can just show up, go through the motions, and win. There are no gimme's in this league, even when a key player is out of the lineup. Earlier this season, Huggins mentioned that he believes this team has a lack of "the will to win" and in my opinion, that's what showed up Tuesday night.
"They beat us down the floor a few times because we jogged down the floor and that was a huge, huge thing that we talked about, we worked about. We ran drills for it. And then you come out in the game and just jog down the floor and people run by you for layups. We're not going to win."
These leaders that Huggins talks about have to step up to help turn things around before it's too late. There are plenty of opportunities remaining for the Mountaineers to add to the resume, but sooner or later they have to realize that this truly is it for them and they're in control of their own destiny.
You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:
Facebook - @MountaineersNow
Twitter - @MountaineersNow and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.
