When the season started, Devin Williams and Jonathan Holton were a tantalizing tandem, “alike and different in so many integral and irresistible ways, but bound by no greater reality than this: They hold the keys to the season.”

So, about that … it’s not working out too well, and maybe that underlined portion is truer today because of what happened Saturday. Holton’s struggles continued, and he looks everything like a player who wants so much to make it work and can’t shake the frustration of not having it go his way.

Holton, meanwhile, has scored only 16 points in his first three Big 12 games on 6 for 14 shooting and added just eight rebounds. He’s played 20, 18 and 20 minutes and his averages have dipped to 10 points and 6.4 rebounds. He hasn’t looked confident or comfortable and those moments have seen him welcomed under the wing of the team’s leader.

“You try to let him know it’s not going to be perfect,” WVU point guard Juwan Staten said. “Nobody expects him to go out and score all the points or grab every rebound. Just be yourself. Be all over the place. Get your hands on balls and get deflections and play as hard as you can to give us that energy.”

And while we’re here, we can lump Nate Adrian in there,  as well. Bob Huggins said today the season-long shooting woes are “in Nate’s head.” But that’s two players in the front court, and let’s not forget Brandon Watkins lost like 25 pounds when he was sick and isn’t all the way back to where he was. Elijah Macon has tender ribs, missed the Texas Tech game and and “probably wasn’t ready to play” against Iowa State, according to Huggins.

Devin Williams, though, looks like he’s figuring things out, not unlike he did late last season. He’s scored 14 points in all three Big 12 games — on just 24 shots, which is a whole other problem and goes back to the prior post about passing — and his double-double against the Cyclones was his first since he started the season with three in a row. He’s managed to surge without Holton, and Williams might be the blueprint for Holton’s return to normalcy.

“Devin is doing what Devin is good at doing again,” Huggins said. “You can’t force action. You have to let it come to you and you can’t cheat the game. The game won’t let you. It’s too much of a skill game to go too fast and try to take shortcuts and cheat it. I think Devin has slowed down and he’s been more sound and he’s put in a bunch of time with his technique.”