Huggins Has No Explanations for What Happened vs Texas Tech

WVU is firmly back on the bubble with its loss on Saturday.

Midway through the second half of Saturday's game against Texas Tech, Erik Stevenson drained a pair of threes to help West Virginia take an eight-point lead, it's largest of the day.

At the moment, it felt like WVU had the Red Raiders on the ropes. Once again, WVU failed to deliver the knockout punch. 

"We're up eight. All we got to do is take care of the ball, run good offense," said WVU head coach Bob Huggins. "They wanted to play zone. That crew wanted to play zone. So we switched to the 2-3 zone and didn't work. Then we go to the free throw line and we got guys just standing there watching the ball. Never went to rebound it. I don't have an explanation for that. As long as I've done this, I don't have an explanation of why you would stand there and not rebound the miss.

"We had a fifth-year guy throw the ball out of bounds. Can you explain that? I can't. I don't have any idea of how to explain that. Why would he do that? Why would that happen? Why would you just take it and throw it? I don't know."

A big problem with this year's team has been its ability to close games and play well down the stretch. Think back to how the Oklahoma State game unfolded. Or how several missed free throws cost them wins against Kansas State and Oklahoma. Not to mention how turnovers prevented them from holding on to beat Texas and a lack of enthusiasm/energy resulting in a loss in what was a very winnable game at TCU.

It's not one single thing that is haunting this WVU team. It's something different every night out. You just don't know what it's going to be. On Saturday, Huggins believes his guys took their foot off the gas.

"When we got the eight-point lead, I honestly think we had some guys relax. I mean, how you explain a guy on the inside not even moving on the foul line to block out the guy next to him? I can't explain that."

This, in my opinion, is just not wanting it bad enough. 

If your NCAA Tournament life is on the line, you have to play like it and give max effort, go after every loose ball, and will your way to victory. The excuse of having a hodgepodge of guys is no longer valid. This group has been playing together enough to be able to figure things out. If guys are having a hard time understanding what they're supposed to do on a given play or defensive coverage at this point in the season, it's probably never going to click for them. 

That said, going after a rebound on a missed free throw is a different story. It has nothing to do with knowing what to do. It's just a measure of how bad you want it.

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