WVillustrated.com video

You found Bob Huggins Tuesday night to be as you might expect the WVU coach to be following a game his team led by — which is better … or worse? — 18 points in the first half, 14 at halftime and eight with two minutes left in regulation.

Understand the Mountaineers handled Kansas for stretches like nobody else has this season. The Jayhawks hadn’t looked as vulnerable, as beatable, in a while. Very early in the season, Kentucky beat Kansas 72-40, but it was a 10-point game at halftime. The last team to lead Kansas by more than 18 was Temple in a 77-52 win before Christmas. Nobody in Big 12 play led Kansas by more than 14.

WVU was really, really good. Crisp. Focused. Effective. Dangerous. Intimidating.

Then it all went bad for the Mountaineers with a sustained series of errors, the sort of miscues that make you whistle … and Huggins was vocally disappointed with the officiating and the free throw disparity.

Whether Jaysean Paige jacking a 3 early in a critical possession, Jevon Carter missing key free throws, Dax Miles committing a brutal inbounds turnover (we asked early in the game why he was inbounding, so we have to wonder why he was inbounding late), Tarik Phillip trapping and fouling up two with seconds to go, Nate Adrian getting stuck on the floor at the regulation buzzer or any one of the reckless interior passes/turnovers or squandered chances to protect the paint better, the Mountaineers did plenty to give that game away. And they knew it.

But they also played valiantly and, yeah, probably should have won that one. You’d think a young team might have a malleable psyche and that a fight-or-flight occasion is at hand, except that Tuesday without Juwan Staten and Gary Browne sort of dismisses that concern. WVU understands its offensive shortcomings, and the fact it made two 2-point baskets after halftime and just one in the final 24:45 and still had a lead in overtime is sort of impressive.

I don’t know, but knowing what we knew before they game, seeing that realistically the 4-5 game in the second round of the Big 12 tournament was going to be difficult to avoid, wondering how much good could come from one early-March game, it’s also fair to wonder what harm came from it, too. True, the game resembles the Oklahoma-Iowa State game, and I said you can’t take the Sooners seriously after that one, but this feels much different, no? The 4-5 game is at hand, with only the color jersey the Mountaineers wear the and team they play left to be settled, and this team seems to handle slights properly, and might not know how to take a compliment, so perhaps this new low is more deep than damaging.