MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — Remember that "elephant in the room" that West Virginia assistant coach Josh Eilert brought out of the closet on Tuesday, that 12-game Big 12 road losing streak?

Well now he's out of the back door.

And that monkey on the back which represented the weight of the losing streak that the Mountaineers had been carrying around?

Gone, too, as WVU overcame one of the ugliest starts in school history to beat the still winless-in-conference-play Red Raiders of Texas Tech, 76-61.

Not a black cat in sight as the Mountaineers celebrated the victory in a game that had more fouls and bruises than made baskets.

That's right, they called 48 fouls and the teams combined for 40 baskets.

The bruises went uncounted but not unfelt.

This was an unscripted experience for all, the only thing being predictible about it was that it would be ugly as it matched up the bottom teams in the Big 12 conference.

This was not a game plan drawn up on the locker room white board. The starters were so bad early that Huggins made a 5-for-5 swap and wound up finding heroes sitting there on the sideline with him. The bench scored 50 points; the starters 26.

Seth Wilson came on in that first desperation substitution and hit a couple of 3s and wound up with 15 points on five 3s, two of them banked. But then again, everything was a 3-point attempt for the Mountaineers, who attempted 35 3s and just 16 2s.

You see that about as often as you see a team be outscored in the paint, 34-10, win the game.

But that's just what happened.

Wilson provided a scoring outburst, as did guard Joe Toussaint, a bundle of energy who led WVU with 22 points, while James Okonkwo showed the skills Huggins had stressed, he had for a couple of years as he skied for 10 rebounds to go with 5 points and a Sagaba Konate-like block that nearly brought the house down.

"I've said and said and said James is really talented," Huggins said. "That's a guy who outgrew tennis and he has a great basketball future in front of him."

If The Game of Thrones had gotten off to the same kind of the start as did the game of basketball played by West Virginia on Wednesday night, there never would have been a second episode.

"We didn't start very good," Bob Huggins understated.

It seemed like it would end on a TKO called by a referee in favor of Texas Tech as West Virginia fell behind 10-2, completing more passers to spectators than to teammates.

The Mountaineers couldn't shoot, couldn't pass, couldn't rebound and couldn't believe what was happening to them, especially when Huggins had seen all he could take and, after a time out, replaced all five starters.

It was like a hockey line change.

"Our starters just didn't have any pop to them," Huggins admitted. "They were dragging a little bit. "We went with some young guys, who had a little more pop to them and they responded well."

As it worked out, Keddy Johnson had 4 points in 15 minutes, Eric Matthews had 2 points in 11 minutes, Jimmy Bell Jr. had 1 point in 16 minutes, Tre Mitchell had 3 points in 20 minutes. That's 10 points from four of the five starters.

Only Stevenson carried the weight, and while he made only 3 of 12 shots, 1 of 7 from 3, he put up 16 points with 4 assists on classic passes. Although there also were three passes that would have needed $15 postage each if he sent them via air mail.

There were injuries. Kedrian Johnson, whose been bounced around all season with ankle problems and a concussion, left early with an ankle injury. Emmitt Matthews Jr. was still feeling the effect of a knee problem he had a couple of weeks back.

And so Huggins put the game in the hands of his bench players.

Turned out, though, new blood was just what was needed, considering how much blood at been drawn by Texas Tech up to that point. The transfusion of life came in the form of forward James Okonkwo's effort on the boards and Seth Wilson's shooting.

By halftime Okonkwo had 6 rebounds to lead the Mountaineers, Wilson had six points and Joe Toussaint had come off the bench to add 8 and WVU led, 33-28.

As a work of art it was little more than a Kindergarten crayon drawing on the floor by the Mountaineers but on the scoreboard it was a Picasso, difficult to understand but nice to look at.

The second half turned into a whistle fest as the officials could barely keep up with the fouls being committed and could never match the ferocity of the fouls. There were nine fouls committed in the first 3:06 of the second half, and it didn't slow down much from there.

Normally, this isn't a WVU positive, but on this night they hit 28 of 35 for 80%, getting back to the kind of free throw shooting they displayed in preseason play.

WVU returns home for a big basketball weekend that includes the Bob Huggins Fish Fry with special guest Charles Barkley, then a Saturday meeting with Auburn in the Big 12-SEC Challenge.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) -- Don't say Erik Stevenson didn't warn you.

He told you he was good and that he'd do some spectacular things for West Virginia.

He also told you he was crazy.

He has shown both sides of his split personality in the first two Big 12 games of the season and the good Erik Stevenson almost got them two wins and the bad one probably got them two losses.

The latest came on Tuesday night in Stillwater, Oklahoma, the Mountaineers dropped a 67-60 loss to Oklahoma State, their 12th consecutive conference road loss and, with Kansas and Baylor awaiting them at home and an 0-4 start in Big 12 play looms as a very real possibility.

In the opening loss at Kansas State, Stevenson picked up a technical foul at just the wrong time, and Huggins felt it cost the game.

"We seemingly had the game under control and then we had some guys do some stupid things to let them get back in the game," Huggins said then.

But it all went too far in this one and Huggins admits he's put up with Stevenson as much as he can and indicated that he would put up with it no more.

"We had our chances, we couldn't make a free throw, we couldn't make a shot. You can't blame anyone but us ... and Erik gets incredibly stupid again and basically cost us the game. It can't happen again. It just can not happen again," he said.

The Mountaineers had been behind all game, but midway through the second half Stevenson turned up the heat. He hit a 3, to cut it to 49-47, then after the Mountaineers gave up a basket to fall down by four, Stevenson made a steal and went down and canned a second three, followed 18 seconds later by a third three.

WVU was ahead, 53-51, and Stevenson started back down court. But then play suddenly stopped and they hit him a three, telling Huggins he had made a gesture toward the stands.

"From what I'm told, he made a gesture toward Marcus Smart," Huggins said, referring to the former Oklahoma State star who now plays for the Boston Celtics and was in attendance at the game, as was his coach, Huggins' former point guard at WVU Joe Mazzulla.

One free throw was made on the technical, but whatever momentum the Mountaineers had was gone, Stevenson exiting with his fifth personal foul.

West Virginia needed him down the stretch, but he was unavailable, Huggins inferring it was due to selfishness and stupidity.

"I think we're close," Huggins said, despite having lost two straight games he should have won. "We can't have one guy changing the game the way he's changed the game. I love the kid, I really do. I wish him the best.

"But, he hurts our team when he does that. You don't have that right. I don't care who you are, what you are, who you think you are, you don't have that right to hurt your team, hurt your teammates. For what? Look at me, look at me. Who cares about you? Do what you are supposed to do.

"We've got to be somebody. We have got to stop the stupidness. I'm not going to have another one. I'm going to say pack your stuff up and head home."

Earlier this year, in a press conference, Stevenson said he was aware of what happens and that is a part of him, a part that drives him.

"I have to be like that. If I'm not, then I suck," Stevenson said in mid-December. "I've been that way since I was 3. The last time I didn't play with this competitiveness was at Washington and I wasn't allowed to. It was miserable for me. It was like a tiger being wrapped up in bubble wrap."

You could tell when it was over Huggins was seething inside, leaving directly without going through the handshake line.

A lot of things were bothering him. His team had made only one of its final shots at crunch time and you have to believe Stevenson would have been in there then to provide some points. As it was he wound up the team's high scorer with 17 points.

Then there was another challenging night at the free throw line, making 17 of 28. That meant they had missed on 37 of 66 in the two losses.

And once again WVU couldn't stop anyone in the paint, being outscored there 34-14 ... a 20-point differential.

Stevenson, of course, is the central character in all of this. His reputation has preceded him and the officials obviously are not about to put up with antics. In fact, before the game, Huggins had received a correspondence from the Big 12 to the league's coaches telling them that they were going to try to cut down on the rough play that was exhibited as the league opened its schedule over the weekend.

In the K-State opener there were 53 fouls called, leading to 72 free throws. Now WVU has played two games in which 99 fouls have been called leading to 142 free throws being shot.

So, the officials' eyes are on everyone, but you know Stevenson is getting extra attention from the officials and now from his coaches.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) -- Anyone who has studied Bob Huggins' Hall of Fame career understands that winning and being physical go hand-in-hand with him.

You look at his best clubs and they played hard, led the world in floor burns and bruises, as well as offensive rebounds.

Yes, jump shots mattered, but not nearly as much as in-your-face defense. He wanted crisp, sharp passes, but he'd rather see you take a charge. Or, for that matter, be tagged with charging.

His teams could play a subtle game of basketball, but they'd rather not.

This is important here as we approach the end of non-conference play because this WVU team shows every time it comes onto the court that it has a chance to be special, special as in intimidating and playing with an edge.

Sunday evening, at the Coliseum, they ran into a Buffalo team that wanted to play physical. They showed they could handle that, too, and that's important because the Big 12 is not a patty-cake league.

Win that conference and you shouldn't get a ring, you should get a championship belt like the ones they give out in WWE or MMA.

You don't often beat good Bob Huggins' team trying to muscle them around, which Buffalo found out when they wore down and sent the Mountaineers on a parade to the free throw line that produced 22 free throws from 33 shots while Buffalo was taking just 13 and making eight.'

The veteran Erik Stevenson, who jokingly talks about having played college basketball for 20 years now, understands what Huggins is doing.

"We want to bully you," Stevenson admitted. "We want to send a message early. They didn't back down from us but we were fortunate enough to get in the double bonus quickly. That's why we had that eight-point lead at halftime. "

That and a late spurt from Stevenson that put WVU on the move.

"It seemed to me that Buffalo started the game with that kind of attitude that they weren't going to be bumped," Huggins said when asked about the intimidation factor that his teams create. "They were way more physical than we were. With that, I think, comes a lot of fouls as well."

Huggins knows those fouls could just as easily be called on his team, so he says they are looking for a happy medium between being physical and fouling ... exactly what Buffalo couldn't do.

You might say they were intimidated into fouling by trying to be the aggressor against a team that wouldn't permit it.

By halftime, the style of play had switched to WVU.

"I thought we came out in the second half and met their physicality," he said.

Hard not to when you have Jimmy Bell on your side.

At 6-10 and 285, he is like a giant redwood down low and Buffalo could do nothing with him as he authored his first career double-double in Division I play with 18 points and 10 rebounds.

"First career double," he smiled after celebrating with the student section and his teammates. "I just feel good.

Bell actually wasn't thrilled with his first-half performance, but says his teammates got him into the right frame of mind for the second half.

"They talked to me. They told me to keep my head up and stop being so frustrated," he said. "My teammates got my head high. I didn't have a great first half. My teammates talked to me and I came out ready to play and win the game.

"They told me to keep my head up. They know what I'm capable of on the court. Once I got that out of my head I stopped being so frustrated."

All he did was hit five of six shots, up close and very personal on whomever was trying to guard him.

They play hack-a-Shaq with him, the result being they fouled him nine times. Add that to eight fouls on point guard Keedy Johnson and you have 17 of Buffalo's 27 fouls.

Bell made the most of it.

"I'm not trying to get a lot of offensive calls, just use my power, use my shoulders as much as I can and just finish the basket," he said. "A lot of times I don't get the calls I think I should. Me and Huggs have been talking and he's telling me to finish through contact, regardless if I get the call. I'm going to continue to do that the rest of the season."

It should be easy for him.

"I'm a big guy. That's a simple way to put it. I'm a bigger guy than most of the guys I play. They gotta do what they gotta do to try and stop me and I gotta do whatever I have to do on offense. They fouled me all night."

WVU played without Emmitt Matthews, who injured his knee against UAB, but it's expected he'll be back soon.

They covered up for his absence nicely as Stevenson scored 22 points with four assists and four rebounds, Tre Mitchell added 17 with six rebounds and Keedy Johnson scored eight points with seven assists and four steals.

During the WVU-Navy men’s basketball game, Midshipmen coach Ed DeChellis called for offensive sets in a decidedly old-fashioned way — with a dry-erase board and marker. Among the plays he called were “Box 4,� “Chin� and “Helo 5.�

The names evoked the bygone regime of former West Virginia coach John Beilein, who had sets with such memorable monikers as “America,� “Best Play Ever� and “Double Quickie Potato.�

Navy’s pace of play and packed-in zone defense contributed to a zippy game time, with matters wrapping up quite quickly (1:54) on Wednesday evening.

One has to wonder, though, if the presence of Big 12 supervisor of officials Curtis Shaw also affected the crew, which whistled only 31 fouls in the contest.

While common perception might hold that the Midshipmen aren’t that physical and thus are less prone to fouls than others, there’s no doubt they were charged up for the game, and bumped and banged, especially against Mountaineer big man Jimmy Bell, as if they were Pitt or Baylor.

The Middies are actually in the upper half of Division I in fouls per game, and only 33 teams are called for more fouls per game than WVU. On this evening, though, both teams were whistled well below their seasonal averages.

One also has to wonder if Shaw’s presence sparked the indirect, yet very clear, comment on officiating that head coach Bob Huggins made in the postgame. While answering a question about defending on the perimeter and against ball screens, he unleashed a barrage, which left no doubt with students of the game as to his intent to call attention to inconsistent officiating of the action on the perimeter.

“(Assistant coach) Ronnie (Everhart) and (associate head coach) Larry (Harrison) have been on me that we’ve got to work ball screens. I’m like, ‘What difference is it going to make if they’re letting people pivot into us? What difference does it make if you’re allowed to have your feet outside your shoulders? What difference is it going to make?’ That’s not the rule. The rule is your feet have to be under your shoulders. Have you ever seen a screen where their feet were under their shoulders? I haven’t.

“I sat there for three weeks with the rules committee, and that’s what the majority wanted,� the Hall of Fame coach noted of the time spent in the offseason making changes to the rulebook. “We don’t do it. We don’t officiate it that way. You can’t pivot into guys. That’s not legal. That’s not supposed to be — excuse me, I misspoke — it’s not supposed to be (legal). I think there’s a lot of cleaning up that needs to be done.

“I don’t know whether we should push up and go under (screens), because I don’t know if we push up to go under, they might push our guy going under. As much as they want consistency from the players, we need consistency from everybody involved in the game.�

Faced with such direct comments back when he was an official, Shaw, who was known as “Quick Draw� for his propensity in assessing technical fouls, would likely have been sending one Huggins way. Perhaps this method will work better in getting Huggins’ point across.

— — —

Ever since my first exposure to the Big 12 men’s basketball tournament in Kansas City (I’ve been to each since WVU joined the league in 2012-13), I’ve touted the opinion that every Mountaineer fan should make the journey at least once, if not multiple times. The venue, the great basketball, the entertainment and restaurant district just across the street — and now the addition of the women’s tournament just a few blocks away — make for an outstanding five days, even if the Mountaineers don’t advance as far as fans would like.

This year, there’s a new seating option available at the T-Mobile Center, where the men’s event is played. Some 200 courtside and premium courtside seats, including access to a private lounge, will be made available at the decidedly pricey option of $2,800-$4,000 for the four-day tournament. When the women’s event moves to the T-Mobile Center from the Municipal Auditorium in 2024, the same options will be available.

Just as it did at the football championship game, the league is also adding musical acts, VIP appearances and more amenities for fans during tournament week, which runs from March 8-11. That’s all part of new Commissioner Brett Yormark’s plan to make the league attractive to more demographic groups, especially younger consumers.

Yormark is also bullish on basketball’s potential in terms of marketing and media rights, noting that it’s a natural to push the college game into more overseas markets, just the way the NBA has done. That’s one reason he and the league are evaluating the potential for the addition of basketball-only schools, such as Gonzaga, which could bring enough sizzle to make the Zags a viable option, even without football.

— — —

OK, it’s still early in the season. But WVU’s field goal success rate of 49.6% would put it second all-time in school history if it holds through the season. Only the 1988-89 team, which hit a blistering 51.4% of its attempts, stands above it.

That Gale Catlett-coached squad, which finished the season 26-5, had 3-point sniper Chris Leonard as well as smooth-shooting guards Tracy Shelton, Steve Berger and Herbie Brooks, but the real prowess on that team came from a couple of unexpected sources. Forwards Darryl Prue and Chris Brooks, both of whom made fewer than 45% of their attempts from the free throw line, were outstanding from the field, making 63% and 61% of their shots, respectively. With centers Ray Foster and Wade Smith combining to hit 51% of their live-action tries, WVU’s frontcourt set a standard that will be difficult to match.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) — The other night against Navy, just 2 minutes and 36 seconds into play, Bob Huggins was forced to rise out of his stool by the scorer's table as a foul was whistled on his point guard, Kedrian Johnson.

On Friday afternoon, as he Zoomed with the media ahead of Saturday evening's Coliseum matchup with UAB, he made an admission.

"I'll be honest," Huggins said. "I saw Keedy's first foul and don't know what it was."

Naturally, he asked and got an explanation, but before he could return to his stool, there was another shrieking sound coming from an official's whistle. It was foul No. 2 on Johnson, just 13 seconds after the first one.

This really got to Huggins.

See, the officials this year have been asked to take the physicality out of basketball, which is like turning football into a game of two-hand touch.

Huggins says he's all right with the meaning behind the rule, just not the application of it.

"To think, you have 10 really good athletes out on the floor, and not being allowed to touch each other is absurd," he said.

We're not talking about just athletes, we're talking big, fast, physical athletes confined into a relatively small area, battling for position, moving with lightning speed, sometimes with the agility of a ballet dancer.

The fact of the matter is, there may not be any crying in baseball, but in basketball, you have to let the players go at it.

Think of Charles Barkley trying to play under today's rules. Dennis Rodman? Think of trying to guard Larry Bird without touching him. How do you stop Wilt Chamberlain if you aren't banging him under the boards to get him away from the basketball?

In the case of the Navy game, sending Johnson to the bench within two and a half minutes is one thing. It will be different in Saturday night's game as Johnson will be charged with guarding the Blazers' Jordan Walker. Walker averages 25.7 points a game, and Johnson is the man who is supposed to guard him.

He did so last season, taking him pretty much out of the game before the new emphasis on taking physicality out of the game.

"Keddy is the key for us," Huggins said. "We're hoping he will do the job on him he did last year. He can run with him. "The idea is to match speed on speed, and Keddy is capable of playing at the same pace."

But not if he's on the bench.

Huggins, of course, made his reputation on having physical teams. His early Cincinnati teams led sportswriters to often refer to him as "Thuggins."

And the "Press Virginia" defense that he devised wouldn't have been quite as effective under the way they are interpreting fouls today.

Huggins expects by the time conference play begins, the officials will lighten up.

"As the season goes on, you won't see those calls," Huggins said. "For whatever reason, we got into this 'touch me not' deal. You can't play like that."

Huggins believes there must be contact, the defining factor in whether it is a foul being whether it interferes with play.

It was a different game years ago.

"At Cincinnati, we didn't let people cut," he said. "We took away the motion out of their offense, but [the officials] let us. It wasn't just us. We played Cal with Jason Kidd four times, and they were tough. They had two guys who wound up being all-league tight ends in the NFL."

Huggins, by the way, is not against that. Just the other day, he talked about Jimmy Bell's size and athletic ability and admitted he could see him wind up playing left tackle in the NFL at 6-foot-10, 285 pounds and up.