MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — It was supposed to be a simple solution to a complex problem, one that had been constructed and practiced in the two days leading up to West Virginia’s 93-68 loss against No. 20 Iowa State.
Coach Bob Huggins knew the smaller and quicker Cyclones would trade off on defense anytime the Mountaineers (9-12, 1-7 Big 12) attempted to set a screen.
“So, we put in, not a different offense, but some different wrinkles to try and take advantages of some mismatches on the switches,” Huggins said.
Two days were spent in drilling on which Cyclones defenders to attack and in which way. It was like having the answers to the test written in the palm of your hand and then still failing the test.
Why?
“We were supposed to be doing certain things and we just wasn’t doing them,” West Virginia forward Lamont West said after scoring 24 points on 7-of-10 shooting. “We were kind of like scraping off and doing our own thing. We weren’t doing what our coaches told us to do.”
And it started from the opening tip, Huggins said.
“We didn’t do it one time,” he said.
Don’t chalk it up to an all-out mutiny, but rather another example of how inexperienced the Mountaineers are without Beetle Bolden and Sagaba Konate in their lineup.
“It’s just kind of how it happened,” West said. “I don’t think anybody purposely did it. I felt like, maybe sometimes you see something and you just try to do it.”
Huggins had no explanation.
“Maybe it’s easier to do it in practice than it is in a game, I don’t know,” Huggins said. “I always thought it was harder in practice, because the other guy knew what you were going to do. We didn’t run what we had practiced to run.”
McCabe’s caravan
The gathering of nearly 10 people in Jordan McCabe No. 5 jerseys was clearly visible behind West Virginia’s bench.
It’s roughly a six-hour drive from McCabe’s hometown of Kaukauna, Wis., to Ames, Iowa.
“I love my family to death. They’re not hard to pick out of a crowd,” West Virginia’s freshman guard said. “They’ll be at this game for the next four years, for sure, because it’s only a few hours for them from Wisconsin. They come to Morgantown a lot, too, so you’ll be seeing them a lot.”
McCabe also had other family members on hand when the Mountaineers played at Texas this season. They, too, were decked out in No. 5 jerseys.
McCabe, of course, by NCAA rules gets no financial cut from his jersey sales.
“If the NCAA hears anything like that, no sir,” McCabe said with a smile. “That’s not me.”
Passing and receiving
McCabe took responsibility for several of the midcourt turnovers the Mountaineers suffered in the first half, saying he didn’t make the right read.
West Virginia had 19 turnovers, which led to a 29 points for the Cyclones.
Huggins has been hard on his team’s errant passers all season, but he said there is another side to the equation. Namely, recipients who allowed Iowa State defenders to stay in the passing lanes.
“It’s not just the passer a lot of times,” he said. “Sometimes it’s the guy who is supposed to be the receiver is taking shortcuts.”