There are some hallmarks so far this season for No. 11 West Virginia, which improved to 10-1 for the third straight campaign Tuesday and which on Friday can win 11 games before Christmas for the second time in the Bob Huggins Era. Forgetting the stats and the perceived improvements, I think what matters most is that with two exceptions — the loss to Temple and the win against Virginia — the Mountaineers have not been threatened.

Nine games have been decided by between 27 and 59 points. The scoring margin is the largest in the country. Remember, this is a team with a bunch of new players who have had to play.

They’ve played a lousy schedule, and it’s possible Huggins planned it that way but also underestimated his roster, but 82 percent of the time, they’ve stayed clear of any sort of danger. They’ve had problems closing out games in the second half, but let’s be honest: This is a month of these games in a row now. It gets old. And Huggins has been using the second halves as lab hours for his freshmen and some unusual combinations. That’s not going to be aesthetically soothing.

The latest against Radford was the same, and Huggins is pretty clearly ready for this string to meet its end.

There was an absurd run in the first half and then regression to more equitable play in the second half, where the Highlanders outscored WVU and probably even outplayed the Mountaineers if we had to go to the scorecards. They played harder and cleaner and with more interest. For the game, Radford outrebounded WVU and outscored the home team in second-chance points. Combine that with the Mountaineers missing 16 of 31 foul shots and forcing eight turnovers in the second half after forcing 21 in the first, and you understand what’s happening late in games and late this month.

To me, a big difference in the first half and the second — and one that could again be explained at least in part by personnel — was the fouling. The Mountaineers still foul. That’s always going to be the case for as long as they guard for 94 feet and rebound like they always have. But the fouls are way down. The defense is still effective. A lack of whistles keeps the momentum surging until it overwhelms the opponent.

WVU keeps its players in the game for as long as Huggins wants, as opposed to as long as the officials want, and there are fewer and fewer easy points.

The Highlanders made their fourth 3-pointer of the first half with 10:18 left to play to cut WVU’s lead to 23-18 but went scoreless for 7:13 and went into halftime trailing 53-22. The Mountaineers ripped off 23 unanswered points, forced 11 turnovers in the run and made the final seven shots while fouling just twice.

Both were by Brandon Watkins, once while rebounding and the first as an opponent took a shot near the basket. Radford’s Devonnte Holland missed both his free throw attempts.

In the second half, when the starters totaled 15 points and as Huggins incorporated his reserves and his freshmen with just Friday’s game at home against Eastern Kentucky remaining before the start of Big 12 play, the defense and the focus waned the fouls came.

The Highlanders made 13 of 20 free throws in the second half and only committed eight turnovers. They were averaging 15 free throw attempts per game and finished with 10 more than that, and the points at the foul line made up 26 percent of their points. WVU was only allowing opponents to get 19.3 percent of their points at the line, which ranked No. 173, but that, too, was a major improvement.

WVU allowed 29 percent of the opposition’s points at the foul line last year, which ranked No. 350 out of 351 schools. That was up from 26.6 percent in 2015, which ranked No. 343.

Seven fouls in the first half, a decisive run and two points at the foul line for Radford. Eleven fouls in the second half, which still isn’t that bad, and no big run and 13 points at the line for the Highlanders. When WVU has its best players on their best behavior, the defense is unforgiving and opponents have a hard time finding easy points anywhere.