As Akron Coach Keith Dambrot sees things, his team was at a disadvantage against a Bob Huggins team playing Bob Huggins defense because the Zips were without suspended point guard Alex Abreu — and then Jabarie Hinds happened.

“We have some offensive issues with our point guard out so we expected that the pressure was going to bother us, which it did, but we hung around defensively,” Coach Keith Dambrot said. “But in a 3 minute, 40 second stretch, we went from 24-18 and shooting a free throw to getting blown out of the gym.”

Huggins gets a T — go back to last night’s game blog … the man was on fire early in the game — and Akron’s Brian Walsh, a transfer from Xavier, misses two free throws and the game abruptly falls apart for the Zips.

Why?

Jabarie Hinds took the game into his hands. He stole the ball twice. He drove. He shot a 3. He had an assist. In a very short amount of time, he made all five of his shots and had 12 points in a 19-2 run. It was all as fast as the point guard from Mount Vernon, N.Y.

At that point freshman Pat Forsythe, who had his best game of this still young season with four points and five rebounds, hit a basket and Hinds made a steal and was credited with a layup on a goaltending call.

Seconds later Hinds took the ball into the lane and made a move that best can be described as now you see him, now you don’t. He spun so fast and past his man so quickly that he literally was a blur, so fast that the defense could do nothing but foul him.

Now the crowd of 7,334 was at full volume, about to turn it up another notch when Gary Browne, the other freshman point guard, stole the ball, fed it to Hinds and he hit a layup.

It had gone from 24-18 to 31-18 in just about a minute, and it was to get more frenzied as Hinds gunned in a 3-point shot. Hinds had hit eight of 10 points, a streak that would grow to 12 of the final 19 points, the halftime lead having expanded to 43-20.

The last basket of the half belonged to Kevin Jones, but it came, naturally, on a nifty feed from Hinds.

“He’s a talented guy,” Huggins acknowledged.

Understate much, Bob?

That looked a lot like the kid Huggins said was one of the most talented guards in the country. Not in merely the East.

That looked like a guy who could get you 20 if you asked him.

That looked like a guy who could be a problem here shortly.

What Huggins has now is something he’s had before — he’s got a chance to have a good and deep and potent backcourt. What Huggins really hasn’t had at WVU is a good and deep and potent backcourt. Note the difference.

Some of the circumstances have been out of his hands (Joe Mazzulla’s injury) and some he’d probably do some stuff differently if given another shot (Noah Cottril), but the fact remains. He’s really had to be creative with his backcourts.

If things continue to trend as they appear to be right now, there will be no Da’Sean Butler playing point and Devin Ebanks dribbling the ball up the floor. There will be no 4-on-5 on offense. There will be none of the pitfalls Huggins has had to endure so far. He’s got three point guards — Truck, Hinds and Browne — and two of them — Truck and Hinds — can flip the switch and play the two guard.

And he can play them all together if Aaron Brown or Keaton Miles or Tom McCune can’t justify their minutes, which is what happened last night. Huggins would rather not because rebounding dips and defense can slip, but you do what you can do.

Truthfully, three guards won’t be a rarity in the Big East. Some teams will do that and WVU will be better able to match up now, which, again, is kind of new.

Whatever the case, Huggins can play two guards at all times now, two guards who can handle the ball and score the ball, even if in different ways. Truck is a shooter who can get to the foul line and, on occasion, make some layups. Brown is kind of crafty. He doesn’t have a great jumper, but he’ll make some. He doesn’t attack the basket, but he can get inside. I think he’s quite happy facilitating and getting eight points if the team scores in the 70s and 80s.

Hinds is just something else, though. Defenders have a hard time staying in front of him, or at least maintaining balance as they try to stand in front of him, and in the past few games you’ve seen Hinds come to understand he can get by guys. That’s a mental barrier for young guys who sometimes subconsciously respect older opponents, but it seems as though Hinds is past that. If he develops a better jumper, cue Carl Lewis.

I don’t know where this goes. I don’t want to make any bold predictions. That said, Mr. Zip Code commented last night that WVU hasn’t had this kind of speed since Jon Hargett. I completely agree and I think that’s what may help this team score more than you’ve grown accustom to with Huggins and still maintain the defensive reputation.

These guys are going to run because two or three of the guys who will get the ball can fly. These guys can also pressure better, even if in the half court, because they’re quicker and move better laterally. Turnovers lead to speed and speed leads to points.

The promising part is they’re just figuring this out now with a long way to go.