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PHILADELPHIA – Wanting to give his team a good laugh earlier this week, Bob Huggins decided to read his players a letter that he received recently from a fan upset that West Virginia has not been able to put teams away lately.
The gist of the letter was that the players were not listening closely enough to Huggins’ pregame instructions and they might become more focused if Huggs ditched his trademark black West Virginia pullover and matching black trousers in favor of a navy blue suit and gold tie.
“I took (the letter) down to our guys and I said, ‘If you guys don’t start playing better I’m going to have to end up wearing a suit,’” Huggins joked.
After the way the Mountaineers performed Saturday afternoon against Villanova in the Wachovia Center – particularly in the second half and in overtime- it looks like Huggins will keep on wearing his Johnny Cash gear.
That’s because West Virginia held on for a signature road victory over a Top 10 team, beating the No. 9 Wildcats 68-66 in overtime. However, for a good portion of the first half you had to wonder if Huggins was going to march into the locker room and change his clothes right on the spot. His team was that tough to watch at times.
“We were so bad the first half,” admitted Huggins. “We were 2 for 10 from the foul line. We didn’t handle the ball. We didn’t pass the ball very well. I told them at halftime, ‘We can’t play any worse and we held them to (29) points. This is the best scoring team in the league and we held them to (29) points.’
“I think that goes back to what I talked to them about the very first day I got here and the very first day of practice, ‘If we defend and we rebound we’re going to have a chance. Now we might not win, but we’re going to have a chance,’” Huggins said.
West Virginia (24-6, 13-5) didn’t get its first basket until seven minutes into the game when backup center Deniz Kilicli made a layup with 13:18 on the clock. The Mountaineers were also butchering their free throws, missing five straight before Truck Bryant’s second try hit the front of the rim, glanced off the backboard, and finally fell through the hoop.
By halftime, West Virginia was only 6 of 25 shooting from the floor for a season-low 16 points. The one saving grace was Villanova (24-6, 13-5) wasn’t scoring either. The Wildcats led by 13 points (29-16) but the margin could have easily been 25 or more if they could have handled the basketball better.
In the second half, West Virginia used an 18-5 run to tie the game at 34 on a pair of Devin Ebanks free throws. Four consecutive Butler free throws, two on a technical foul called on Villanova’s bench, tied the game at 41, and then back-to-back 3s by Wellington Smith (the second with 4:26 remaining) gave the Mountaineers their first lead of the game, 51-50.
Twice, West Virginia had three-point leads at 58-55 with 33 seconds left and 60-57 with 22 seconds remaining.
Scottie Reynolds hit a two-point basket to pull the Wildcats to within one, 58-57, and then after two more Ebanks free throws, Corey Fisher nailed a 3-point jumper with 13 seconds left to tie the game.
“We went to the 1-3-1 because they went to the free throw line four consecutive trips,” said Huggins of his decision to go away from man defense late in the game. “It happens at the end of games so what the 1-3-1 does is generally stop penetration for us. The flip side is we don’t get to 3-point shooters probably quite as well. They were going to keep driving the ball to the basket if we didn’t do that.”
West Virginia had plenty of time to come down and get a good look at a winning shot, but a disoriented Ebanks wound up firing up a prayer with four seconds left that had no chance of going in.
“I said, ‘Devin, man what are you doing taking that shot?’ He said, ‘I thought we were up by one.’ I said, ‘That’s why they make pretty elaborate scoreboards these days,’” joked Huggins.
In the overtime, Kevin Jones came up big with a pair of baskets to give West Virginia a 64-63 lead. Butler made two free throws to make it 66-63, West Virginia, with 42 seconds left. But once again Villanova came down and hit a huge 3, this time by Corey Stokes with 35 seconds left. Following a West Virginia timeout, Butler was able to work in close for a runner off the glass with six seconds left to give WVU a 68-66 advantage.
Villanova coach Jay Wright called timeout and when play resumed, Reynolds got a great look in the corner for a 3 to win the game, but his shot was off the mark.
“It scared me to death that he got too good of a look at the end of the game,” said Huggins.
Butler finished with a game-high 21 points, hitting 13 of 14 from the free throw line, while also pulling down 10 rebounds. Smith added 15, including 3 of 7 from 3-point range. Ebanks contributed 12 points and seven rebounds but more importantly, he did a great job guarding Reynolds, who finished the game shooting 5 of 16 from the floor including 1 of 9 from 3-point distance.
Reynolds had 17 points and Fisher scored 12.
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