West Virginia didn’t play their best basketball against Stony Brook and head coach Bob Huggins let his team know.
The Mountaineers put on a poor showing in the final game before the holidays, which is natural considering the players were likely planning to spend some time with their families.
But that doesn’t excuse it as the basketball team won’t have the chance to sleepwalk through the upcoming schedule with Big 12 Conference play slated to begin just before the New Year.
“It depends on how much you want to play, doesn’t it? You’re playing so badly that you’re more excited about going home than getting better, so you should probably stay home,” Huggins said.
Huggins saw a team that didn’t pass the ball to open guys, gave up straight line drives on defense, didn’t bounce the ball, and excessively fouled throughout the game. It’s a formula that won’t work against a team of Kansas State’s caliber in the Big 12.
“It was pathetic. It was a poor performance as a team,” said senior goalkeeper Erik Stevenson.
The situation will be different, but the Mountaineers need to play better and be better mentally prepared if they want better results. It was a classic trap game, but that doesn’t excuse what happened.
It’s something Stevenson could feel during warm-ups and although he always tells players to lock down given his experience, the results haven’t been up to par in the last two. Mountaineers know what they need to work on to get ahead and now it’s about doing it.
“If we do that in the next two games, we’ll be 0-2 in the Big 12 game,” Stevenson said.
#WVSports #West #Virginia #improve #Big #game #looms
