Unfortunately, #WVU came toward me in the 2nd half, so here are photos of that: https://t.co/ZYew1zEU5a pic.twitter.com/SgrZX3AkD9

— Geoff Coyle (@GFCoyle) December 9, 2015

So I was wrong, and maybe you did want to shield your eyes, because Bad West Virginia was back last night. After doing so many good things on offense and defense and on the boards to build a 12-point lead, the Mountaineers were outworked, outflanked and outclassed in the final 23 minutes and outscored by 28 points.

That was a meltdown in all the aforementioned areas, and WVU looked and acted beaten with a fair amount of time left on the clock. Woof.

WVU shot 40 percent for the game and 6 for 20 in the second half and finished 12 for 21 from the free-throw line and 2 for 14 from 3-point range, including 0 for 7 after halftime.

“I can’t imagine we’re as bad as we are,” coach Bob Huggins said. “Watching them every day, I can’t imagine when the game starts we’re as bad as we are.”

WVU (7-1) led by 12 points on three occasions in the first half against a team that hadn’t trailed by more than nine points all season. Virginia had more turnovers and allowed more points off turnovers in the first half than it had in the first eight games, but started its robust recovery late in the first half and then dominated the second half.

The Cavaliers (8-1), who led the nation in scoring defense the past two seasons and are No. 5 this season, shot 62.8 percent in the game and 73.7 percent in the second half (14 for 19), that thanks to six layups and two dunks.

It was so bad that Huggins lectured his team until 17:27 was left in the first half of the second game in the doubleheader, which started 25 minutes after WVU’s loss.

“We were awful,” Huggins said. “We were awful. Maybe I have, I don’t remember, but I don’t ever remember a team giving up that many layups in the halfcourt. That was against our halfcourt defense, which is supposed to be pretty good.”

There are a lot of reactions to this, and I’m trying to blend them into a column, but WVU bombed its first true test of the season. I know, I know, same team won the Las Vegas Invitational, but if you want to gauge a season with wins over Richmond and San Diego State, go ahead and do that and enjoy the NIT. WVU needs to be better than what it was Tuesday night to go where it wants to go.

This is not to say WVU won’t be better, but you saw an opponent that intentionally takes away drives and doubles the post and will let you catch it on the open perimeter, and the Mountaineers could do nothing about it. There are different defenses and different names for it, but teams have done this before and likely will still do this. They’re going to crowd the lane to stop WVU’s motion and is drives, to harass Devin Williams, to make other players score in the post and to entice 3-pointers and jumpers.

That’s not broken. That’s what works, in some way, shape or form, and the only way for the Mountaineers to fix this is for them to break that.

Unrelated: The Big 12 wagged a finger in the direction of central Texas and announced a new football scheduling requirement.

Unrelated II: The All-Big 12 football teams are announced at 11 a.m.