Where Was Joe Toussaint vs Texas?
Kedrian Johnson had a career night against Texas with 22 points, besting his previous high of 20 which he set on Wednesday in the win over TCU. However, he did not play a very well-rounded game. He missed key shots at the free throw line and turned it over six times.
Many wondered, myself included, why Huggins didn't shuffle the lineup on the floor to include Joe Toussaint, who has been a sparkplug off the bench this season for the Mountaineers. Huggins addressed it in the postgame press conference and took full responsibility for not getting the veteran guard on the floor earlier.
"My fault. My fault. I was caught up in did we play Keddy too much? Should I have got him out a little bit more? And which one of our guys, Erik [Stevenson] or Seth [Wilson] was going to make a shot? Because neither one of them were making shots. That's kind of what happened and that's my fault. 100% my fault. Joe deserves to play. Joe deserves to play a lot of minutes. We've got guys that played that don't deserve minutes. They haven't earned minutes."
Toussaint played seven minutes in the first half but saw even less time in the second half (three minutes). This isn't the first time though that Huggins turned to Toussaint late in the second half. After leading all scorers with 10 points in the first half of the Oklahoma game, Toussaint sat on the bench until the 11:53 mark of the second half and it wasn't due to foul trouble. He had one foul at the break.
Heck, even after the TCU game, Huggins praised Toussaint for how much he has meant to this team.
"Joe is one of the guys that's made plays all year. Joe has kept us in games we otherwise would not have been in. Joe has never been the problem."
As rock-solid as Keddy is defensively, I understand wanting to keep him on the floor. But if he is turning the ball over at an alarming rate or other guys on the floor continue to miss shots, there has to be a way to get Toussaint more involved in the game.
You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:
Facebook - @MountaineersNow
Twitter - @MountaineersNow and Schuyler Callihan at @Callihan_.