Huggins Big 12 Coach of the Year
March 08, 2015 02:33 PM | General
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| West Virginia's Bob Huggins becomes the first Mountaineer men's basketball coach since Gale Catlett in 1982 to be named coach of the year. Guard Juwan Staten was also named first team all-Big 12 for a second straight year. | |
| All-Pro Photography/Dale Sparks photo |
MORGANTOWN, W.Va. - It’s been 33 years since West Virginia University has had a men’s basketball coach named coach of the year.
Well, Bob Huggins finally ended that streak today when he was named the Big 12's top coach for 2015, the conference announced this afternoon.
Huggins, now in his eighth season at WVU, may have done the best coaching job of his long and very successful career by taking a team, minus two of its top three scorers from 2014, and winning 23 regular season games and finishing tied for fourth with Baylor in a conference most consider to be the toughest in the country.
Huggins has already engineered a six-win improvement over last year’s record with a roster that was almost completely retooled with underclassmen and junior college transfers this season.
And Huggins did it by going to a relentless, full-court pressure defense that has been coined “Press Virginia” by Mountaineer fans and leads the country in steals with an average of 11.1 per game while forcing 404 total turnovers.
“It's their identity. It's who they are,” said Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford after West Virginia’s 81-72 win Saturday. “[Huggins] has done an unbelievable job with this basketball team, an unbelievable job, a terrific job.”
West Virginia began the season impressively with seven straight wins to crack the top 25, and has remained in the rankings throughout, reaching as high as 14th earlier this season.
The Mountaineers count impressive out-of-conference wins over Connecticut, NC State and Wofford along with a Big 12 record that includes season sweeps of TCU, Texas Tech, Kansas State and Oklahoma State, and single wins over Kansas, Oklahoma and Texas.
Huggins has managed to do this while dealing with significant injuries to seniors Juwan Staten, Gary Browne and Kevin Noreen. Noreen has not suited up this year, Staten has missed the last three games with knee and groin injuries while Browne injured his ankle early in last Saturday's loss at Baylor. All three were dressed in street clothes for Saturday’s Senior Day celebration against Oklahoma State.
West Virginia, with an RPI of 20 following Saturday’s win over the Cowboys, is a lock to make its 26th NCAA tournament appearance and sixth under Huggins later this month.
“They've got a great team,” Ford said. “I really love their team. They've got a chance to do some special things.”
The Mountaineers last played in the NCAA tournament in 2012, losing 77-54 to Gonzaga in Pittsburgh. Browne is the only player remaining on West Virginia’s roster who played in that game.
Gale Catlett was the last WVU men’s basketball coach to be named coach of the year in 1982 when the Mountaineers were members of the Eastern 8. It is the 11th time Huggins has been named conference coach of the year; he has been named national coach of the year five times.
Meanwhile, Staten was named first team all-Big 12, sophomore forward Devin Williams was an honorable mention choice while freshman guard Jevon Carter was named to the all-conference defensive team.
Staten is averaging a team-best 14.5 points and 4.6 assists per game while averaging 13.1 points per game in conference play. He scored 23 in a close home loss to Iowa State, had 20 including the game-winning basket against Kansas and scored 22 in West Virginia’s big road win at Oklahoma State. He has not played since the Texas game on February 24.
Staten also earned first team all-conference honors last year as a junior.
Williams showed with his 22-point, 13-rebound performance on Saturday afternoon against Oklahoma State that he is turning into one of the best young players in the conference. The Cincinnati resident averaged 11.1 points and a team-best 8.2 rebounds per game overall, with averages of 11.9 points and 8.9 rebounds per game in Big 12 play.
Williams also had 20 points and 10 rebounds in a home loss to Baylor while scoring 18 and pulling down 12 rebounds in a win earlier this year against TCU.
Williams already has 16 double-double games in points and rebounds during his young career.
Carter, who has taken over the starting point guard role during Staten’s absence, has had an outstanding freshman season so far that has seen him lead the team in steals with 55 while also averaging 8.5 points and 2.5 rebounds per game.
Carter scored a career-high 25 points in West Virginia’s 78-66 loss at Baylor on February 28.
West Virginia (23-8) will play Baylor on Thursday night in the quarterfinal round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships in Kansas City. That game will get underway at 11:30 a.m. (CDT) and will be televised nationally on ESPN2.
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