Bob Huggins went to the bullpen late Saturday and didn’t bring in his Cy Young candidate, the one who stands tall, stresses the radar gun and once threw at his kid in a father-son game. He ofted for the lefty who throws changeups and curveballs and hasn’t known a fastball in the 90s for five or six years, and Huggins trusted that guy for a five-out save.

West Virginia — née Press Virginia — played a 1-3-1 zone for the final 5 minutes, 50 seconds — save one possession we’ll cover — and lived to talk about it. “It slows them down,” Huggins said. “We don’t know how to play it very well, but it slows them down. It slows everybody down.”

The final 350 seconds covered 10 possessions for TCU

1. Turnover on a pass
2. Turnover on the baseline
3. Score at the rim
4. One made free throw
5. One missed free throw
6. 3-pointer
7. Turnover at midcourt
8. One free throw
9. One free throw
10. Missed 3-pointer

The 10 possessions covered seven, 12, 15, 27, 18, 40, 15, 18, 12 and four seconds. The first two and the last two skew the stats — quick turnovers for the first two, quick possessions for the last two — so let’s count the middle six. It’s more than 22 seconds a possession. That’s slow, and TCU didn’t want to play slow. In fact, TCU was playing a pinch more than four seconds per possession faster up to that point.

So, WVU wins there. This was a wise use of the clock as your friend.

But the Mountaineers very nearly lost when the nature of the 1-3-1 — fog up the paint, rush out to the wings … and hopefully don’t slip — left a shooter wide-the-heck-open at the buzzer. TCU scored nine points on the nine possessions before that. WVU values points per possession, mostly because of the press causing so many possessions, and 1.0 or 0.9 per possession was above the 0.88 WVU was allowing before that. Throw in some long rebounds TCU got on their own or on a tie-up as well as the fouls WVU committed trying to guard — and TCU going 1-for-2, 0-for-1, 1-for-2 and 1-for-2 at the foul line — and you understand it’s far from perfect.

For a day, it was good enough, and WVU has said that three straight games now.

When WVU was preparing for the Feb. 18 home game against Texas Tech, Huggins saw on film that the Red Raiders struggled to solve a 1-3-1 Texas used. He told his assistant, Larry Harrison, “I think this can work. At the very least, it’ll buy us some time.” When he needed to cool Texas Tech off, he called on the 1-3-1.

“They kind of think a little more,” Adrian said. “It’s a complete change of pace for them. They’re not quite used to it, so it’s good to keep them off guard.” Two days later, the Mountaineers were home against Texas, and the Longhorns were getting by defenders, darting toward the basket and staying closer than the last-place team in the Big 12 needed to be. Huggins again called on the 1-3-1.

“They weren’t attacking the rim anymore,” Huggins said. “It made them pass the ball more. It made them run the clock down more.”

WVU was devoting practice time to the zone, and Huggins was trying to find ways or justifications to use it. As the TCU game approached, he recalled playing it against Pitt when both teams were in the Big East and the Panthers were coached by Jamie Dixon, who’s now coaching TCU.

Huggins reminded himself what Dixon used to do against the 1-3-1 just in case he needed it against the Horned Frogs.

He needed it.

“I thought we might have an idea what he was going to do, although he didn’t do what he did at Pitt,” Huggins said. “He did some different things, which probably were better. But we just needed something to slow them down.

“After guys put their heads down and drive to the goal and go shoot two free throws about 112 times, you say, ‘Maybe we ought to change something.’ I’m not the smartest guy in the world, but maybe we ought to change something.”

This is sort of fascinating. It’s a shift from identity to necessity, resignation that what the Mountaineers do can get them in trouble and that this is a way to stay clear of danger.

Here’s the thing: It helps the Mountaineers by slowing down the opponent and making it pass and probe. The length and the odd angles on the perimeter make shooters uncomfortable, and all the movement does well to stop action in and toward the paint. The players allege they’re not great at this — I don’t necessarily agree, because watch them jump into a 1-3-1 after a miss, and watch Jevon Carter and Tarik Phillip swap spots out of necessity and on the fly — but it doesn’t take a lot to be effective.

Watch this. It’s a good illustration of what they want.

You can tell it’s complicated for players to see or make passes, to screen or to screen and roll, to cut or drive and to shoot. Lamont West is a good body to put up top. Elijah Macon or Brandon Watkins are roaming above the damn 3-point line to put up roadblocks. Carter handles the baseline and has to watch both corners. I think the wrinkle is what Nate Adrian and Phillip do. Sometimes they’re up high to trap or squeeze. Other times they’re down on the block with Carter, and this turns into a 1-2-2.

Now, having tall players pulled up high or out wide and away from the basket makes rebounding a chore, and I think that’s why WVU ditched it for one possession … and that possession in turn colors in the dilemma WVU has.

With the score tied 60-60, TCU had the ball and called a timeout with 12.1 seconds to go. The Mountaineers had just played 1-3-1 after a make or a miss for more than five straight minutes, so Huggins went man-to-man. Part of that was to give the Horned Frogs something different, and part of that, I bet, was to make sure TCU didn’t get a second shot.

The trouble, though, was WVU didn’t guard it well at all, and Alex Robinson got pointed at the rim, drove and was fouled.

Way too easy, though that worked out for WVU in the end. But if it’s a 1-3-1, maybe the pass from Vlad Brodziansky doesn’t get over West and to Robinson. Maybe Macon or Watkins is at the foul line to stop that drive. Maybe Carter camps out to take a charge. But maybe it takes 11.8 seconds to get a look and TCU throws one in at the end, and the Mountaineers don’t have a chance to counter.

As this was all unfolding, I was flashing back to Kansas and WVU continually playing man-to-man and paying for it. On the final Jayhawks possession of regulation, Frank Mason drove on Phillip and was — and I use this word loosely — fouled. He made two free throws to tie the score and send the game to overtime. In a similar spot Saturday, WVU extended the 1-3-1 on the final possession. Robinson weaved around it, which took up some time, but he’d been told to go to the rim. That wasn’t happening when he was surrounded by four players as he made it to the foul line. WVU guarded cleanly and escaped on the miss, but given the whistles at the end, the Mountaineers were rewarded for a wise decision.

The big takeaway: It does a lot for WVU. It’s more passive than the press. There are fewer fouls. Huggins’ sustained frustration with his players and/or the officials is with drives and fouls. This addresses that.

I think part of any conversation about WVU and the postseason focuses on the end of games. We’ve been detailing these scenarios for how long now? Free-throw shooting, lineups, set plays, officiating and now defenses? But every discussion about the Mountaineers features their defense, and while we know the press has not been what it once was, a 1-3-1 adds a layer to the conversation. It’s not what they do, but it’s a banana peel they can throw out on the floor to survive foul trouble or hide a player with two fouls, to get to halftime, to cool off a couple shooters or to surround a few dribble-drivers. And if WVU makes you take time away from your preparations for the press, good luck with that.