Puzzled were we yesterday afternoon when we saw WVU play zone defense and slow down on offense, and we began to weigh the repercussions when Buffalo made a game of it as the Mountaineers downshifted out of character. What seemed especially curious was that Tarik Phillip was in the lineup while theretofore clutch freshmen Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles watched from the bench.

Turns out we weren’t alone in our curiosity.

Q. Tarik’s been in and out of your good graces at times this year.
COACH HUGGINS: I’ve loved Tarik the whole time. Don’t say that now.

Q. How about this? Dax or Jevon or maybe both of them that have been in the game late at that position. What was there reason for Tarik, was it him playing well earlier offensively. Did he have a good game defensively, anything in particular?
COACH HUGGINS: Tarik has the ability to be our best on-the-ball defender. And he’s really long and athletic. And I thought he’d do a better job of rebounding the ball than what the other two guys would have. It wasn’t for him to really to take the shot. It was for the other end. It was for the defensive purposes. And really I kind of thought why didn’t I get him out and get J.C. in to shoot the ball on penetration. And my absent-mindedness probably won the game.

Indeed, as Phillip knuckled up and hit an awkward 3-pointer that clinched WVU’s first-round victory Friday and buried a seven-game postseason losing streak. This was hardly a clinic on late-game execution, and few things went as planned, except the part about the ball going through the hoop.

“Probably the only one who wanted Tarik to shoot it,” Huggins said, “was Tarik.”

He shot not as he’d been taught or as he’d rehearsed, but as the situation allowed. He wasn’t aligned and he faded back from the basket, but he was more concerned with getting the ball out before the buzzer and putting it up so it wouldn’t be blocked again and so that it would at least hit the rim. If he could do all of that, he’d avoid a turnover and a stoppage and give his teammates a chance for another rebound.

“That’s when he makes his shot,” Miles said. “When his feet are turned to the side, that’s when his shot’s on point.”

Up next: Maryland, the No. 4 seed to WVU’s No. 5, at roughly 8:40 p.m. Sunday.