Hadn't seen Dax play that way in a while but hadn't seen him act this way in a while, either. (@melmoraes photos) pic.twitter.com/rdSEtGeUJx

— Mike Casazza (@mikecasazza) February 7, 2016

Dax Miles was more like himself Saturday than he has been for the entire Big 12 season, and that was good for West Virginia, which might find itself in the top 10 again when the polls come out today. He found 20 points with eight shots and didn’t do any of the things that had lately earned him extended sitting time.

There are theories as to why this happened. One is necessity.

Jon Holton is the energy guy on the team, but Miles was once abundantly enthusiastic, and I thought we saw signs of that again against Iowa State. So it stands to reason that he saw the void Holton’s indefinite suspension created and took it upon himself to inject a his personality into the area of need. Two problems, one solution.

Another theory is simple maintenance, and this one might be the best explanation out there. Huggins started to hit Miles where it hurt, and Miles got the message.

The sophomore guard’s playing time reached season-low totals against Florida and Iowa State. Huggins pulled him early in both games after some badly missed shots, and Miles didn’t play in the final 11 minutes of the road win against the Cyclones.

“I told all these guys when I recruited them I was never going to do what I did those couple years,” Huggins said, referring to the 2012-13 and 2013-14 seasons, when a sour roster led to 13-19 and 17-16 records and lots of turnover.

“I was never going to do that again. I’m going to coach them. And they’ve been great. I think I’ve got as good a relationship with these guys that I’m coaching hard as I had back in the old days because they want to get better. They want to get better, and they trust us.”

Huggins saw the low shooting percentage, but he saw the shot selection, too. Most of Miles’ shots were coming from the perimeter. He was 9 for 33 from 3-point range, 13 for 27 from 2-point range and just 14 for 25 from the free-throw line.

He maintained that Miles was an able shooter, so he went about finding out why he’d become so inaccurate.

“We tried to fix a couple of things — not major things, but they end up being major — mechanically with his shot,” Huggins said. “You’ve got habits that get ingrained after all those years and it takes a lot of work and a pretty special guy to stop doing those things, mechanically. It makes it a lot harder to make a shot. But he’s been really receptive.”