MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Bob Huggins said his team had enough open 3-pointers to win the game, only they didn’t make enough of them.
West Virginia made just 3-of-18 shots from 3-point range and lost 73-70 to Purdue at the WVU Coliseum, another tight loss for a Mountaineers that can’t get over the hump against quality opponents.
“We took 18 3s and how many of them were hard 3s?” Huggins asked. “You’ve got to make some of those. … Eron (Harris) took a couple hard ones because he had to, but the rest were just step-in shots.”
Purdue also outrebounded West Virginia 45-38, despite missing 6-foot-10 freshman Jay Simpson to illness. Huggins was asked what WVU could do at this juncture to become a better team on the boards:
“Get those two guys eligible,” the coach said, referencing freshman Elijah Macon and Jonathan Holton. “That will help a bunch.”
Watch Huggins’ postgame news conference as WVU (7-5) prepares to take a three-day Christmas break.