Probably the worst thing about Saturday’s loss to Texas was that it’s followed by a week off, hardly ideal circumstances for the team that has Longhorns in their heads and can’t do anything about that fact, or a fourth bad loss, until playing host to TCU Saturday — and if we’re honest, beating TCU doesn’t really move the needle.

As you’d imagine, there were separate schools of thought after the game, something of a split opinion with a truth that’s probably not even in middle, but isn’t entirely on one side of the fence, either. The obvious take is 77-50 was more of the same from last year — and Devin Williams confessed as much afterward.

Bob Huggins, on the other hand, would not board at that port. Far, far from it, in fact.

“How in the hell can you say that?” coach Bob Huggins said after the 77-50 defeat against No. 20 Texas. “We’re 15-3. How in the hell can you say that it’s like last year? It’s not like last year. It’s not like last year at all.”

Look, no one’s saying this team is like that team. I think we’re all past that, even if questions about the remainder of this season remain. But that did happen. Again. And you couldn’t watch and ignore the obvious. It’s a bad matchup, and the Mountaineers, because of the effect their defense can have on most nights and the way their shooting can be steered by certain defenses on many other nights, is at the mercy of the matches. WVU matches up pretty well with most of the teams in the Big 12. Texas ain’t one of them.

Then again, wasn’t it hard to get a real read on that team in that game? A lot of different things came together for that game to fall apart like it did. Like, a lot, and no one so much as flinched when Williams called it a “collective as whipping.” You could walk away thinking a pretty good team had a pretty bad game and you might note get much of an argument in most places.

WVU committed a season-high 17 turnovers, was outrebounded by a dozen, shot the third-worst percentage in school history and had separate stretches of more than 10 minutes without a basket, which would seem hard to do in a 40-minute game.

“Not for us,” Huggins said. “It’s not that hard.”

WVU started with a 5-0 lead, then missed consecutive shots and gave up an 18-2 run. It was a 10-point game in the second half and Texas ripped off a 23-4 run to build a 29-point lead after holding 21, 21, and 31-point leads in last season’s wins.

“We shot 20 percent in the second half,” Huggins said. “It’s hard to win like that, and truth be known, this was (a 12-point game) and we miss a wide-open layup. How many times have we done that? That’s the frustrating part. You work like crazy to get a layup and maybe you get on a run and that happens.”

Huggins then singled out guard Tarik Phillip and explained how a series of his miscues, including that missed layup, added up to nine points in the Longhorns run. Phillip wasn’t alone, though. Jon Holton and Williams fouled out and Big 12 preseason player of the year Juwan Staten didn’t make a basket until a little more than a minute remained.

With Staten logging 25 minutes and struggling for a second straight game, Holton limited to just eight minutes and Williams flustered again against the Longhorns in 20 minutes to the point he picked up a silly technical foul for dunking the ball after he was called for an offensive foul, the Mountaineers really didn’t have much of a chance.

The bench that scored 55 points in Tuesday’s win against Oklahoma wasn’t nearly as effective against Texas. Seven substitutes combined for 19 points on 4 for 26 shooting. Three of the baskets and nine points came on Jevon Carter 3-pointers, but he shot 3 for 10 in 27 minutes.

“We have to be a team,” Huggins said. “We’re not good enough for one guy to take the ball and say, ‘Hey, go win the game for us.’ We don’t have that.”