His defense, which is to say, his identity, ranks 15th in the 16-team Big East Conference. Fifteenth! Only DePaul is worse, and that’s a little surprising, too, because the Blue Demons should have talent and Oliver Purnell was long regarded as a pretty good defensive coach.

Anyhow, those two teams play one another tomorrow night and DePaul is allowing more than 76 points per game, which means we could see 200 points and 12 missed shots.

Then again …

… the Mountaineers can’t consistently shoot and score during this 2-7 slip that has put them squarely on the bubble — I don’t care what bracketologists say and who, at this moment, is among the last four in and first four out and all that jive.

Sometimes a team will lack in one area, but strengthen it by being so strong somewhere else. Really, that’s been Huggins’ forte at WVU. Can’t score, so guard. Can’t guard, so play a 1-3-1. Can’t run a healthy point guard out on the floor, so use your forwards to break the pressure.

That’s actually an essence of sports and a key in basketball and it’s helped WVU in the past — and before Huggins was here.

It’s just not there this year. There is no counter-attack to make the Mountaineers any more menacing than a team that is giving up high shooting percentages.

In Huggins’ first four seasons, only 22 opponents in 133 games managed to make at least half their shots. In those previous four seasons, opponents shot 41.2, 41.7, 42 and 42 percent.

In the past 10 years, WVU’s worst defensive field-goal percentage was 45.1 percent in 2005 and those Mountaineers still reached the Elite Eight thanks to their mystifying 1-3-1 zone and one of the country’s best 3-pont offenses.

This team doesn’t have a trusted defense and can’t shoot. Out of 338 Division I teams, WVU is No. 242 in field-goal percentage defense and No. 299 in 3-point shooting percentage (30.7). The Mountaineers would prefer to do what others have done to them and spread teams out and run their motion offense and score on cuts, drives and the subsequent 3-pointers, but more and more now opponents clog the painted area and accept WVU jumpers.

“I don’t have anybody who can shoot, so nobody spreads out,” Huggins said. “Look at some of the guys we parade out there. I can kick as many in as what they shoot in. Why would you spread out?”

Yet this is what makes WVU’s defensive difficulties so disturbing. The Mountaineers actually have a pretty good 3-point defense. Teams shoot just 31.7 percent against WVU, which is No. 71 nationally.

The Mountaineers are giving up 50.3-percent shooting on 2-point shots and in the past nine games allow 31.2 points per game in the paint.