MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – While watching Monday night's Texas Tech-Texas game on television, you couldn't help but marvel at the way Tech just shut down Texas in a half-court setting.
 
It's impressive the way the eighth-ranked Red Raiders stuck in front of their men, the way they helped each other and the way they imposed their will on the Longhorns.
 
Texas had energy and enthusiasm at the start of the game but eventually that evaporated once Tech began to wear the Longhorns down – the same way Bob Huggins' best teams at Cincinnati and West Virginia once did to its opponents.
 
It was clear nobody wanted to face those Huggins basketball teams because they knew it was going to be 40 minutes of in-your-face, hand-to-hand combat. 
 
That was how John Thompson's teams once won all of those games at Georgetown years ago – through sheer intimidation. And it's been that way for most of the 37 seasons Huggins has been sitting in the first seat on the bench. 
 
But this year it hasn't.
 
When was the last time a Bob Huggins-coached basketball team gave up 78.7 points per game, if ever?
 
That's what his Mountaineers are surrendering this season heading into Wednesday night's regular-season finale against Iowa State at the WVU Coliseum.
 
The question is, when will West Virginia once again look like the Texas Tech team we watched on TV Monday night? Soon, says Huggins.
 
"We're going to get back to that," he said before Tuesday's practice. "(Texas Tech) does a great job of gang-guarding. Chris (Beard) kind of cut his teeth under coach (Bob) Knight and that looked like Indiana. It looked the way they used to guard.
 
"You've got to kind of try and get (the Red Raiders) raised (defensively)," Huggins explained. "It's hard to get them raised because they do such a good job of clogging the lane and they just don't give you anything easy."
 
Beyond the strategy and the Xs and Os, which is far beyond my level of basketball comprehension, the Red Raiders seem to possess a certain swagger and an aura about themselves right now that is very reminiscent of Huggins' best teams at Cincinnati and West Virginia.
 
"I asked Al McGuire one time, 'When did your guys know they had arrived on the national scene? When did you know you were one of the best teams in the country?'" Huggins recalled. "He said, 'When we walked into any venue without fear.' I've thought about that a lot over the years and my really good teams (were that way). (Nick) Van Exel used to say it was more fun to play on the road than it was to play at home because you get to shut those people up. You get to see them get up and walk out before the game is over with. That's a lot more fun."
 
Clearly, it's not been a very enjoyable year in that regard for Huggins, whose 856 career victories place him eighth all-time in NCAA history. The 11 he's won so far this season are 12 below the 23 wins he averaged during the prior 36 years.
 
When will the physical and mental toughness his teams were once known for return?
 
Huggins admits it was once much easier to be able to determine which players were tough and which ones weren't.
 
"It didn't use to be as hard when you got to see the guys play more in high school and more in a camp situation when they were playing for something," he noted. "AAU has made it more difficult to find out who the tough guys are and who isn't."
 
It's taken him more than half the season to weed out some of that in his program. Today, he's now at least dealing with a roster full of willing players.
 
Their performance level hasn't quite reached the standard Huggins has established throughout his soon-to-be hall of fame coaching career, but their willingness to try finally has.
 
"Now, whenever you talk to them you've got 10 eyes on you. They're listening and they're paying attention," Huggins said. "Before I don't think we had 10 eyes at any point in time. Guys were all over the place. It's hard. Guys are here and not here; they're out and they're back in.
 
"I think that was really unsettling for these guys," Huggins added, while nodding in the direction of the current players out on the court. "They didn't know what to think. I've been doing this for 40 years, and I didn't know what to think."
 
Nor do those of us accustomed to seeing his teams ranked in the top 25 and vying for a good seed in the NCAA Tournament each year.
 
Barring an unprecedented run in the Big 12 Tournament later this month, that's something we will probably have to look forward to next year.

The interesting thing will be to see what Huggins comes up with in nine months, as he once did the last time he was in this predicament six years ago when his team was coming off a 13-19 record in 2013.
 
Then, he sought out former Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey from his past to come up with what later became known as "Press Virginia."
 
Will "Press Virginia" be revived next year, or will Huggins produce something completely different? 
 
Something different than what we've been watching this year is coming, that's a certainty.
 


Briefly:
 
* Although no seniors will be walking out on the carpet prior to Wednesday night's Iowa State game, West Virginia will recognize the outstanding efforts of senior managers Brandon Halupnik, Jared Horan, Tom Pakulski, Anthony Rawlings, Brandon Wiseman, as well as senior athletic trainer Jose Prieto.
 
* The Cyclones (20-9, 9-7) are coming off a disappointing 86-69 loss at Texas last Saturday and have dropped three of their last four games heading into Wednesday night's game against the Mountaineers. 
 
Backup center Cameron Lard, suspended for the Texas game, will be available for Wednesday night's game, but senior guard Nick Weiler-Babb might be out. He bruised his right knee during the Texas loss and sat out most of the second half.
 
* The first time these two teams played on Jan. 30 Iowa State literally ran West Virginia right out of Hilton Coliseum. Huggins said the Cyclones "killed the Mountaineers in transition" out in Ames in a 93-68 loss.
 
* Asked who he is voting for Big 12 coach of the year, Huggins said it's a tossup between Chris Beard and Scott Drew. "I think Tech was picked eighth and Baylor was ninth," he said.
 
As for player of the year, Huggins said his top two choices right now are Texas Tech's Jarrett Culver or Kansas' Dedric Lawson, "Although Baylor's not Baylor without Mark Vital," Huggins said. "He does more to win games without scoring the ball than anybody in this league since I've been in it."
 
* Huggins touched on freshman point guard Jordan McCabe's development over the last three games against Baylor, TCU and Oklahoma when he's scored double figures in all three contests.
 
"He's not closing himself off as much. He put himself in bad positions, which he got away with in high school that you can't get away with here," he explained. "I think he's done a much better job of giving himself some outs rather than boxing himself in."
 
Huggins said his defense is getting better as well.
 
"I thought he has done a better job of staying in front of people the last two games. There were a couple of breakdowns against Oklahoma, but TCU, he did a really good job, and he wasn't bad against Oklahoma but he had a few breakdowns," he said.
 
* Huggins said the No. 1 thing he's going to begin working on with promising freshman center Derek Culver once the season is over is feeling pressure behind him in the post.
 
"It's not really that hard, it's just that things happen faster than he's used to them happening," Huggins explained. The coach indicated Culver's best attribute right now is his motor.
 
"I talked to Frank Martin (Tuesday morning), and he said, 'Man, does that freshman pursue the ball.' He really does pursue the ball," Huggins said. "He's become a really good rebounder just because he pursues the ball. I tell him all the time 'nobody ever got a rebound that didn't want one' and he wants it. He wants to rebound."
 
Huggins laughed when he was asked if he observed Culver's motor while recruiting him in high school.
 
"None other than Denver Allen went with me to watch him play a high school game and at the end of the first quarter Denver said, 'Let's get out of here. This guy here, man, there is no way he will ever play for you at West Virginia,'" Huggins chuckled.
 
Fortunately for the Mountaineers, Huggins chose not to listen to his longtime buddy on that one.
 
* Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPNU (Mark Neely and David Padgett). The Mountaineer Sports Network from Learfield IMG College radio broadcast will air on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the popular mobile app WVU Gameday beginning at 6 p.m.