 |
 |
 |
|
It seemed inevitable that Huggins would somehow drag the Mountaineers back. They started the game like they had just woken up from a nap. Huggins was so desperate to slow the momentum it looked like he made up sweat. During a first-half timeout he instructed official Rick Hartzell to clean up a spot on the floor. Neither Hartzell nor the ball boy could find anything resembling moisture. Shortly after, West Virginia made its move.
| Advertisement |
|||
| |||
It took a while but Alexander, on his way to becoming a tournament poster boy, got it cranked up, staging a man-on-man battle with Xavier's Josh Duncan in the second half.
There were 10 lead changes in the second half and overtime. Alexander scored 15 of his 18 in the second half, but the game might have turned 30 seconds into overtime when the West Virginia forward got his fifth foul trying to guard Duncan. It's hard to say Duncan is Xavier's best player. He leads the Musketeers with a modest 12.1 points, but four players average double figures. But to look at his 6-foot-9, 238-pound body and he has to be good every night.
"He could have very easily been a candidate for the player of the year in our conference," Xavier coach Sean Miller said. "We brought him off the bench for no reason. We started to win with him and we kept it."
Duncan picked up his fourth foul with 12½ minutes left in the game, and lasted the remaining 17½ minutes on his way to a career-high 26 points. Alexander was gone after getting 18 points and 10 rebounds.
Still, the Mountaineers got up by six but had shaky knees at the foul line. With a chance to put the game away, they missed four of six in the final three minutes.
Xavier actually is one of Cincinnati's major-college teams, but who remembers the Bearcats since Huggins left? In his first year with the Mountaineers he took a fifth-place Big East team to the brink of the Elite Eight.
His defense inexplicably broke down late like a '72 Pinto. Where exactly was West Virginia's Wellington Smith, who Huggins seemed to indicate was supposed to have Raymond on the second 3? Nowhere close.
"Somebody fell asleep, I guess," Huggins said.
So did his shooters, who were a combined 1-for-11 from the arc. That was the second-worst total of the season, the worst being 1-for-22 against Cincinnati.
Bob Huggins can't seem to get away from his roots. He'll have all offseason to disconnect.
