Huggstown Weekly Roundup – 3/10/2013
Week In Review
The last week of the regular season saw the Mountaineers lose 3 consecutive games, running their losing streak to 6 and 7 of the last 8. Things just fell apart for the Mountaineers late in the season…
Mar 2, 2013; Lawrence, KS, USA; West Virginia Mountaineers head coach Bob Huggins call out instructions against the Kansas Jayhawks during the second half at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas defeated West Virginia 91-65. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
The last week of the season started off with the Mountaineers getting absolutely destroyed by Kansas. WVU actually held the lead for the first 11 minutes of the game, but suffered the predictable letdown and ended up getting blown out 91-65. This game went the way early season games went- WVU got a lead early but couldn’t hold it.
The next two games went exactly the way many games the second half of the season went- we fell down big, clawed back, but could never quite get over the hump. Against Oklahoma, WVU was down 17 with 2 minutes left in the first half, but closed to within 4 with 7 minutes left in the game. Against Iowa State, WVU was down 27 with 15 minutes left in the game, but closed the gap to 4 with 46 seconds left in the game. It’s been the story of the season- we can play really well for periods of time, but we could never but a complete game together. We always kept fighting though, which is a silver lining on an otherwise miserable season.
The 2012-2013 season is the worst season we’ve had since Gale Catlett’s final year, 2002-2003 (we finished 8-20 that year) and is Bob Huggins’ worse season since a 12-14 campaign in 1984-1985, his first year at Akron. We’re not used to seasons like this, and I don’t think we’ll have to get used to them. Huggins is a hall of fame coach, and you can be sure that he won’t let this happen again.
There will be no postseason tournament for the Mountaineers this season. All that is left is the Big 12 Tournament, which starts this Wednesday. I’d be highly surprised if we notched a win. We were competitive through January because we played solid defense, even if we had no offense. But for whatever reason, our defense is now terrible too, and that just spells doom for this team in the Big 12 Tournament.
Mar 2, 2013; Lawrence, KS, USA; Kansas Jayhawks center Jeff Withey (5) blocks the shot of West Virginia Mountaineers forward Dominique Rutledge (1) during the first half at Allen Fieldhouse. Kansas defeated West Virginia 91-65. Mandatory Credit: Peter G. Aiken-USA TODAY Sports
Player(s) of the Week: There really was no single player that stood out in all three games, so I’m going to highlight the best performances in each game:
@ Kansas: Terry Henderson (20 points, 6-9 3 PT FG), Dominique Rutledge (17 points, 13 rebounds, 2 Steals)
Rutledge played the game of his career against Kansas, and Henderson was hot from beyond the arc. It wasn’t anywhere near enough though.
@ Oklahoma: Eron Harris (23 points, 5-10 3 PT FG), Deniz Kilicli (20 points)
Harris was hot from beyond the arc and Oklahoma didn’t have an answer for Kilicli inside.
vs. Iowa State: Jabarie Hinds (19 points, 4-5 3 PT FG, 3 assists)
Hinds finished the season off with his best performance of the year.
Coming Up:
- Big 12 Tournament
The Big 12 tournament is all we have left this season, unless we make a miraculous run and win it. Here’s a hint- that’s not going to happen. We enter the tournament as the 8 seed and play 9th seeded Texas Tech in the first round on Wednesday. We beat Texas Tech twice this year, but I would be highly surprised if we beat them a third time. We just don’t seem to have it right now. If we manage to beat the Red Raiders, we get #1 seed Kansas the next night. So it looks like we will have at most a two night run in the tournament.