Sunday Post-Game Hangover: Louisville (1/29/12) Edition

by WVUIE97 on Feb 12, 2012 8:40 AM EST in Post-Game Hangover

Coliseum Vision highlights from West Virginia's 77-74 loss to Louisville on Saturday, Feb. 11, 2012 at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown, W.Va.

If the WVU basketball team played horseshoes, hand-grenades or thermonuclear weapons, they would be sitting pretty in the conference (and national, for that matter) standings. Close games with close losses is likely how this season will be remembered. Not that it's over yet, by any stretch. Huggs said, "we're THIS close." The only problem is, "close" doesn't do you any favors in Big East basketball and certainly not when it comes down to selection Sunday in a couple weeks. Five games and a conference tournament is all this team has left to prove it's worthy to go dancing...and prove it with wins over good teams, they must. All of the usual post-game coverage is inside.

Recaps and Features:

No. 23 Cardinals spread scoring load, turn back Mountaineers - ESPN
Recap, stats, photos and video

Louisville 77, West Virginia 74 - MSNsportsNET.Com
Kyle Kuric’s 17 points, including a pair of free throws with six seconds left, helped 24th-ranked Louisville defeat West Virginia 77-74 Saturday afternoon at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.

Cardinals Steal Win In Morgantown - WVMETRONEWS.COM
Recap, gallery and video

No. 24 Louisville steals one from WVU - Charleston Daily Mail
In a game the players labeled as one they had to win if they wanted to make the NCAA Tournament, West Virginia did everything right to build a 13-point lead against Louisville and then everything wrong to let the visitors take the game at the end.

Frustrating; maddening - Charleston Gazette
Mountaineers near misses continue in 77-74 loss to No. 24 Louisville

WVU lets another one slip away - Register-Herald
Late rally lifts No. 24 Louisville to 77-74 win over Mountaineers

Louisville sends WVU to fifth loss in six games - Times West Virginian
The loss, West Virginia’s fifth in the last six games, the last four of which were by six points or less, left then at 16-10 for the year and below .500 in Big East Conference play at 6-7.

Men's Basketball: WVU vs. Louisville Game Recap - WVillustrated
Louisville erased a nine-point second-half deficit to defeat West Virginia 77-74 in come-from-behind fashion on Saturday afternoon at the Coliseum.

Frustration Shows As WVU Drops Five of Six - WVillustrated
Emotions are high for a team that once showed such promise but is currently in a slump that is jeopardizing its postseason goals.

Bob Huggins: Mountaineers are ‘this close’ - Parkersburg News and Sentinel
Bob Huggins held his thumb and index finger up and said West Virginia was this close to being really good.

HERTZEL COLUMN: No more ‘ifs’ or ‘buts’ for Mountaineers - Times West Virginian
“They are trying. We just got to stop all the ‘ifs and buts’. What I told them is I am tired of ‘ifs’ … ‘if we would do this right, if would do that, if we wouldn’t do this.’”

Collapse Sends WVU To Bubble - BGN
West Virginia players and coach Bob Huggins said Friday they had been in more dire situations in terms of their NCAA Tournament hopes before. After another collapse on Saturday, perhaps that isn’t true now.

Mindless plays a main culprit in WVU downturn - Charleston Gazette
During this Mountaineer losing stretch, which has reached five of six games, coach Bob Huggins' team has refused to quit. But it has certainly been falling apart.

Furious Rally Sparks Louisville To 77-74 Win At West Virginia - Card Chronicle

Photos:

Photo Gallery: WVU vs Louisville - WVillustrated

Photo Gallery II: WVU vs Louisville - BGN

Video:

Video: Louisville Postgame - BGN
Huggs, KJ, Truck and Turk

WVU Men's Basketball Interviews Following Louisville Loss - WVillustrated
KJ, Huggs, Rutledge and Truck

VIDEO: Louisville Post Game - WVMETRONEWS.COM
KJ, Turk and Truck

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Comments

With about 5-6 minutes left in the first half and WVU up by 13 I literally told my buddy “Watch us be up by 5 at halftime”. I was totally joking. (Sure enough we were up by 5-7 at half)

This team was so exciting because of the promise at the beginning of the season coupled w/ Kevin Jones performance. I love KJ but he won’t (nor should he) get BEAST POY. Unfortunately, you MUST take over a game and will your team to victory at least once and preferably 2 times or more in conference play. He’s a lock for first team. But the blame doesn’t go to him for these losses. We just aren’t able to close.

by WVUColumbus on Feb 12, 2012 10:23 AM EST reply actions

The moment when Truck no longer plays for this can't come soon enough

has their ever been a senior with less idea of what he’s doing on the court?

Players who should be in the Hall of Fame: Pat TIllman, Dwight White, Donnie Shell, L.C. Greenwood, Ray Guy, Steve Tasker, Greg Lloyd, Andy Russell, Cris Carter, Kevin Greene, Andre Reed and Jerry Kramer
"Clemson should've stopped turning the ball over" Dana Holgorsen when asked about running up the score in the Orange Bowl

by WVPiratesfan on Feb 12, 2012 7:12 PM EST reply actions

Time...

to park Truck on the other end of the bench with the guys who never take their warm ups off. Let the freshman, KJ and the Bull play without him on the court.

She never was a very good athlete, but I'd love to see her box.

by each it pitt on Feb 13, 2012 8:03 AM EST up reply actions

you mean

let Deniz foul out without Truck on the floor? While I agree, it isn’t going to happen, don’t see Hugg’s doing it. To me, Deniz has been a larger disappointment than Truck. We could win if he didn’t foul out or get himself taken our for significant minutes every game for foul trouble, with or without Truck.

by SilverSpring'Eer on Feb 13, 2012 8:52 AM EST up reply actions

No I mean...

I’m not sure which team you’re watching. Yes he fouled out last game but from what I see, he sits mostly due to Huggs yanking him for the simplest of mistakes which he doesn’t do with Truck. Here are a couple of stats for you to consider…with 139 less shots, the bull is averaging 5 less points a game. The bull shoots 53% form the floor why your shooting guard shoots 36% (31% form 3). The only stat Truck leads the team in is turnovers. The last five games read Truck 3 for 17, 0 for 6, 11 for 22, 2 for 7, and 4 for 11. The last five games for the bull read 7 for 8, 8 for 14, 9 for 15, 6 for 13 and 2 for 10. Yes Syracuse wasn’t a good game for the bull, but I wouldn’t call him a larger disappointment than Truck. I am by no means predicting stardom for the Bull but he is better for the team than Truck. By the way, the bull averages 2.8 fouls a game while Truck averages 2.3 and the Louisville contest is the only game the bull has fouled out all year in a position that is prone to fouling due to playing in the paint and having to foul Trucks guy every time he gets blown by.

She never was a very good athlete, but I'd love to see her box.

by each it pitt on Feb 13, 2012 11:58 AM EST up reply actions

in the games

I watch Deniz is pulled early in either half because of fouls, limiting his contributions. I don’t care why. Whether fouled our or not, he doesn’t play enough and it appears to usually revolve around his fouls.

I would be interested to compare minutes played between the two. I would expect Deniz to have far fewer but as your stats indicate, more impact. But how fewer minutes, implying the potential of the team lost because of his ‘bullish’ moves.

I say Deniz is more of a disappointment because I knew Truck (my shooting guard?) would play the same way, but I did expect Deniz to be much better. Maybe he can put together a full game next year. Or anyone besides KJ for that matter….

by SilverSpring'Eer on Feb 13, 2012 4:55 PM EST up reply actions

Truck's #s are comparable to guards, Bulls #s are comparable to centers

It is hard to compare the minutes of a starting guard to a center. So I wanted to compare the bull to other centers in the big east. His minutes per game is 26.5. ND’s center, Cooley is 27, the cuse’s center Mello is 23.8, UConn center is at 20. I don’t see much of a difference. As far as the 3 games previous to bulls first game he fouled out of, he had 35, 37 and 37 minutes. Remember, he is a center. As far as if you want to compare him to a guard’s minutes (apples to oranges), he is a little less than 10 minutes per game behind Truck. In closing the bull has had some of his best games as of late and appears to be improving while Truck is Truck.

She never was a very good athlete, but I'd love to see her box.

by each it pitt on Feb 14, 2012 12:45 PM EST up reply actions