MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – There are not many things that perplex a hall of fame coach like Bob Huggins, but he admitted Monday that figuring out how best to blend a roster full of new players has been more difficult than he expected.
 
West Virginia, now 10-7, 0-5 following Saturday's one-point loss at Oklahoma, has had a fighter's chance in four of its five Big 12 defeats since registering its last victory against Stony Brook back on Dec. 22.
 
WVU had a double-digit lead at Kansas State in the second half before losing 76-62 in overtime. The Mountaineers fought back from a double-digit deficit to lead at Oklahoma State in the second half before falling 67-60. 
 
In their most recent home loss to Baylor, the Mountaineers appeared to take control of the game with less than 10 minutes to go when they led by five, but the Bears stormed back and won 83-78.
 
Then last Saturday against the Sooners, West Virginia was in tie game with 1:43 left but was unable to take the lead at the foul line.
 
In some instances, it's been a mental lapse, while in other instances it's been a key breakdown, a missed free throw or something else that's gone wrong. It's almost as if this team is running out of new ways to lose close basketball games.
 
Huggins thinks some of it is a manifestation of simply having a team full of new guys who are still trying to figure each other out.
 
"When you bring in so many different people – the portal guys and the junior college guys that are all very talented and are going to be very good players – it's hard to put all of that together," he said. "Quite frankly, it's a lot harder than I thought it would be."
 
Huggins said he had a phone conversation on Sunday with former player Joe Mazzulla, now coaching the Boston Celtics.
 
Mazzulla sat behind the bench during West Virginia's 67-60 loss at Oklahoma State and witnessed some of the issues with which Huggins is currently dealing.
 
"We talked about a lot of things, but the one thing he said was 'we had the advantage of playing together all of those years,'" Huggins said. "They played together, and they knew each other. With the advent of the portal and basically freedom of movement, it's now a different game. It's going to take some time for people to adjust to it.
 
"The people who are winning are the people who have pretty much maintained their rosters," he added.
 
For instance, 14^th-ranked TCU will bring a roster full of experienced players into the WVU Coliseum on Wednesday night. Huggins firmly believes this is the most talented team Jamie Dixon has had in his seven seasons at TCU, and they are playing a much different style than we used to see from Dixon's Pitt teams a decade ago.
 
Junior guard Mike Miles, a 6-foot-2, 195-pounder averaging 19 points per game, is the one who clearly makes them go. Huggins says he has NBA talent.
 
"(TCU is) like the Lakers used to be – the Showtime Lakers," Huggins said. "They do a great job of running their lanes. I've watched various clips of them rebounding the ball, making an outlet pass and scoring a layup at the other end before the ball even touches the floor."
 
West Virginia had some success moving the ball and scoring in the second half against Oklahoma using a smaller lineup of Kedrian Johnson, Joe Toussaint, Erik Stevenson, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Tre Mitchell, and Huggins admitted it's tempting to continue exploring that combination.
 
But the Horned Frogs have exceptional size with 6-foot-11, 263-pound sophomore Eddie Lampkin in the post, so his presence near the basket could temper Huggins' thoughts of using a smaller lineup.
 
"We're trying the best we can to figure out what best suits us, and that's going to vary according to who you play, how they play and their personnel," Huggins explained. "Every game is going to be different. There are going to be many instances when (playing small is) not the best for us. To the best of my ability, I'm going to try and put the guys out there that give us the best chance to win."
 
After close losses to Iowa State and Texas, TCU defeated 11^th-ranked Kansas State 82-68 in Fort Worth last Saturday. Six-seven senior forward Emanual Miller was the top Frog with a career-high 23 points to go with eight rebounds.
 
TCU jumped on the Wildcats early and never looked back.
 
After facing No. 14 TCU on Wednesday night, West Virginia gets seventh-ranked Texas on Saturday evening, so the road doesn't get any easier.
 
"It's the hardest league in America," Huggins said, glumly.
 
It sure is.
 
Wednesday night's game will tip off at 7 p.m. and will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+ (Pete Sousa and Bryndon Manzer). 
 
Mountaineer Sports Network radio coverage with Tony Caridi, Jay Jacobs and studio host David Kahn tips things off at 6 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile apps WVU Gameday and The Varsity Network.

Satellite radio coverage is on SiriusXM channel 375.
 
Tickets remain and can be purchased by logging on to WVUGAME.com.