Honestly, you can read or write 800 words about last night’s loss and try to explain West Virginia’s fate, one that was apparent a few minutes into the game, and circle a few things.

But the Mountaineers just shot it badly from start to finish and couldn’t use made shots to make up a really vast gap in size and athleticism.

“They killed us on the glass and drove the ball pretty much anywhere they wanted to and got the shot where they wanted pretty much every time down the court,” Staten said.

The margin of defeat was the largest for the Mountaineers this season. They trailed by double digits for the final 22:11 after not trailing by more than eight points in any game since a Dec. 5 loss to Missouri. WVU (10-7, 2-2) fell behind by 25 points in that game and came close to that against Texas when the lead was 70-49 with 6:22 to go as much of the Coliseum crowd of 8,706 started to leave.

The Mountaineers missed 21 of 25 3-point shots, including 15 in row, against the conference’s worst 3-point defense. They had only six turnovers, but didn’t quite make the most of their possessions by shooting 37.7 percent (26-for-69).

“We just didn’t make any shots,” coach Bob Huggins said. “You don’t make shots, you put your head down. You make shots, you play harder. They made shots. We didn’t make any shots.”

There were people in the postgame scrum who seemed surprised and asked WVU if it was surprised, possibly because Good Texas is new to their eyes, but that’s been This Texas all season. The Longhorns are young, not unlike WVU, and they’ve gotten better and won some big games.

They’re large and long in the frontcourt and they’re agile at guard and the Mountaineers were warned about getting crushed on the boards by the Big 12’s best rebounding team and about getting beaten to the rim by the good guards.

None of that was a shock, nor should it have been

Then there was this notion that WVU was sapped from the Oklahoma State loss, which I suppose has some merit, except for a few objections. For starters — and I mean this flatteringly, I promise — WVU is kind of used to losing big games. What I mean is one more shouldn’t have deflated and defeated the Mountaineers two days later.

Secondly, Texas had to travel. WVU did not. The advantage should always be with the home team for those Saturday-Monday games, and even more convincingly when the home team doesn’t have to travel Friday and Saturday.

Now physically, I can see it being a factor, especially when so many shots are short and the energy was as absent as it was on defense (especially in transition) and when rebounding. But the truth, as Bob Huggins so eloquently puts it above, is that WVU just isn’t good at either of those skills and can be exploited.

When you miss 21 of 25 3-point shots, it’s that much easier for the other team and it’s something the Mountaineers have to worry about moving forward.