Huggins: 'Let's Go Make a Run'

West Virginia collected their first Big 12 win of the season Wednesday night.

Following West Virginia's 77-76 loss to the Oklahoma Sooners last Saturday, it felt like we were watching the same story unfold from a year ago. Get off to a strong start in non-conference play and then absolutely fall apart once league play came around. 

The difference between this year and last year? This team doesn't give up. They have fight in them. 

"At 0-5 and even losing at Oklahoma, they were never b*tching, they were never down," said Huggins following Wednesday's win over No. 14 TCU. "They were, hey, let's go get the next one. We can win. You know? We can make a run. And I got them together and said fellas, we're going to play three at home and certainly a winnable away game. I mean, let's go make a run. 4-5 sounds a lot better than 0-9 I'll tell you that."

In their five Big 12 losses, the Kansas game was the only one where you can say, yeah, it just wasn't the Mountaineers' day. If they make their free throws they beat Kansas State and Oklahoma on the road and Baylor at home. And if Erik Stevenson doesn't foul out, they more than likely beat Oklahoma State on the road. Instead of being 0-5, they really should have been 4-1. 

Turnovers plagued this team early on in addition to the struggles at the line. They did throw it away 15 times in their win over TCU, so it may not be completely fixed but it's a lot better than what it was to start the year. As far as the free throw shooting is concerned...well, Huggins told folks he would get it fixed.

"You watch us, you know that. We're going to be a good team. Now, do we got to make free throws? That's got to change," Huggins said last Saturday after the loss to Oklahoma. "We couldn't pass the ball. That has changed. When we first started, we couldn't make a free throw and we couldn't pass it to our own team. We fixed that. That part we fixed. Now, we've got to fix the free throw shooting or make sure those guys who can't make 'em don't get to the free throw line."

Last night, the Mountaineers did a terrific job at the charity stripe going 20/26, including a 5/6 night for Jimmy Bell Jr., who has shot under 60% for the season. It may only be one game but sometimes that's all you need is just one solid game from the line to get your confidence back.

If they can build on that performance as a team, they have a serious chance of getting right back in the thick of things over the next week or so. Saturday presents another huge opportunity as they host No. 7 Texas. Following that, they hit the road to take on Texas Tech, who is winless in Big 12 play, and then return home for Auburn in the Big 12/SEC Challenge.

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