It’s still fairly impressive that Bob Huggins has 97 wins in 136 games as West Virginia’s coach and even more brow-arching to see 51 of those victories have come away from the Coliseum. He’s played 34 of 68 Big East games on the road and is 17-17 — and the win total already matches what Gale Catlett did in his seven seasons in the Big East.

Ah, but that 17-17 is a little misleading. A litte.

Marquette, West Virginia and Pitt are the only Big East teams to have winning records the past three seasons and one reason the Mountaineers are there is because they win road games.

All three are among the top eight — actually, top nine if one counts ties … which I do — in Big East wins from 2008-10 and then in those three seasons plus this season.

The group looks like this:

Louisville – 41 wins from 2008-10, 51 wins including 2011
Pitt – 38/50
Syracuse – 35/45
Villanova – 35/44
UConn 35/43
Marquette 34/41
WVU – 34/42
Notre Dame – 32/42
Georgetown – 32/43

 The Huggins-coaches Mountaineers are 3-16 on the road against those teams:  0-3 at Louisville and Pitt, 0-2 at Syracuse, UConn, Marquette and Notre Dame, 1-2 at Villanova and 2-0 at Georgetown. (How about Georgetown’s home court?)

Against the other seven teams in the conference? WVU is 14-1 in those road games and that’s absolutely in line with another Huggins strength — beat inferior teams.

In the Big East, does it matter? Apparently not.

“I’ve gotten to know this: When you go on the road, you get a win any way you can get it, no matter who you play,” Thoroughman said. “It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Seton Hall or Providence. I can remember games where we were happy to get a win.

“Look at DePaul this year (a 67-65 win) and whatever their record is (7-19, 1-13). When you go on the road and it’s the last few possessions, if you’re still in the game, that’s where you want to be.”

WVU has been right there at the end in many of its road losses under Huggins, including two at Pitt, where the team has played two goood games and had two awful finishes.