I’ve seen Bob Huggins coach a lot of games. I can only think of a few — a few — other occasions when I’ve seen Huggins as bothered by the officials as he was last night.

I’ve seen Tom Herrion coach one game. I can’t believe no one told me how fun that was going to be. Guy lives and dies on every bounce.

Back to Huggins, this is not to say he was most bothered last night — though he may have been — but I can only put his agitatedness in very small compartment. The body language, the gesturing, the resignation, the resentment, the lip reading, the things I could hear him say all made it clear he was an angry man.

So he was, of course, asked about it after the game.

“I really can’t say anything. I’d like to be able to say something because I’d have a whole lot to say.”

The numbers were again staggering. A combined 64 fouls and 70 free-throws — and almost impossibly, each was split evenly. Marshall had all three centers pick up three fouls in the first half … and neither fouled out.

Nine of WVU’s players had at least two fouls, and that included Jonnie West (two minutes) and Dan Jennings (four minutes). Kudos to Dalton Pepper, who fouled just once in seven minutes.

Everyone else had at least three fouls for WVU and John Flowers and Cam Thoroughman fouled out.

Thoroughman’s exit was significant for WVU. When he was on the floor with Joe Mazzulla, Casey Mitchell, Kevin Jones and Flowers, a 22-point deficit was whittled to eight points and WVU had all the momentum. Then Thoroughman fouled out on a ridiculous call, WVU couldn’t play its effective matchup zone quite as well and Marshall started scoring again.

I know I have the WVU side of this officiating debacle, but Marshall has every right to be mad, too. I started to shift my eyes to Herrion after the whistles and some of his reactions were priceless. And with reason: Many of the calls against his side were stunning and unnecessary. The atrocity was evenly spread. I can say that with certainty.

There was a stretch in the first half where 10 straight possessions — five trips for each team — had a foul. In the second half, there was mass confusion after Mazzulla was called for a foul when he clearly had inside position for a defensive rebound on Nigel Spikes and Spikes just as clearly had Mazzulla’s head in his grasp instead of the ball. Neither team knew what to think.

WVU celebrated Spikes going over the back … and then flipped out when Mazzulla was named. Some Marshall players went back on defense and a few went to the bench for the under-12 media timeout. They all kind of smirked and clapped when they realized they got the call.

Herrion was spinning in circles, not sure what to believe. Huggins threw both arms out and marched toward mid-court with an unforgettable look of incredulity.

The 2011 Capital Classic in one scene.

Add it all up and it totally fractures what could have been a great, great game. The Mountaineers were literally prevented from playing their preferred man-to-man defense in the second half. The Herd couldn’t rebound in the second half (minus-8) as they did in the first (plus-seven).

Players kept slamming on the breaks when they came close to an opponent. Both teams did a pretty good job internalizing their angst, but what if that concentration was spent elsewhere within the game?

WVU and Marshall match up pretty evenly and I would have liked to see those two sides in that environment with those stakes settle into a possession-for-possession battle. Like WVU-Georgetown and WVU-Purdue.

Yet for some reason, three strangers screw it up year after year. People asked me about it in person after the game and then later through texts and emails and even 7 a.m. phone calls today: Why does this keep happening?

I have no clue. None. Makes no sense. I actually think one of the refs last night is very good. I guess he was outnumbered?

Anyhow, I rarely even pay attention to the stripes. I think it’s good to know who is who before a game, so I include that in the game blog. I get psyched for Timmy Higgins and the potential for a block call and a 40-yard shuffle. I search for conspiracy theories when John Cahill is in the building. I miss Curtis Shaw.

On and on I could go. I just never really get into what they do and how they affect a game because, for the most part, they’re non-factors. There’s usually so much more to a game.

Can’t say that about last night, and we basically anticipated such a thing. So Huggins was asked about the officiating a second time (not by me!) and he unbuttoned that top button.

“Why would you ask me that question when I told you I can’t talk about it? You’ve got a voice. Express it. Nobody is going to censure you. You’re not going to get sanctioned. You’re not going to get fined. Say whatever the hell you want to say.

“Why are you asking me? I told you I can’t say anything. If you thought it sucked, say it sucked. If you thought it was great, say it was great. You have that right.”