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MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) ����ֱ��� You've heard the Vince Lombardi line from other eras, a line that has come to describe the approach a football or basketball coach must take to be successful.

"Winning isn't everything, it's the only thing," he said after winning one of consecutive Super Bowl championships in the the 1960s.

The problem is, that's really true and that's something West Virginia's men's basketball team has to take out of Tuesday night's opening 60-53 victory over Oakland.

Bob Huggins got the victory and, 100 years from now no one will remember anything else about the game, but the truth is Huggins and his players were not in a celebratory mood for it certainly wasn't what they wanted.

The truth was that Oakland, a team that finished 8-12 last year, lost one of its top players and had two others go into the transfer portal, one of whom wound up at Pitt, WVU's Friday night 8:30 p.m. Coliseum opponent, got something almost as valuable as a victory ����ֱ��� respect.

While most of the time we in these parts take our basketball and life lessons through Huggins, but there are times when the opposing coach has as much to offer in terms of insight into the WVU team and this was one of those times.

Greg Campe has been at Oakland for 37 years, third in longevity at one school to Syracuse's Jim Boeheim and Duke's Mike Krzyzewski, so he knows of what he speaks.

Does WVU have troubles as it heads into this season? Listen to this from Kampe.

"We held them to 0.88 points per possession. I don����ֱ���t think I����ֱ���ve ever coached a team against a Power 5 team on the road or anywhere that held another team to 0.88. It has to be one of the greatest defensive performances that an Oakland team has ever had," he said.

That may speak highly for the Oakland defense, but more than likely it says something about a rudderless WVU team, playing its first game without point guard Miles "Deuce" McBride and using three newcomers to split the point duties

The result was that Sean McNeil was reluctant to shoot, perhaps because he was getting the ball in unfamilar places and Taz Sherman had 18 points but made just 1 of 7 3s, again possibly because the rhythm was off.

And one certainly can question whether the defense was responsible for terrible inside shooting by the Mountaineers, breaking in replacements for Derek Culver and Emmitt Matthews Jr.

"If we had somebody who could score close, then they probably wouldn����ֱ���t have been able to stay in he zone as long as they stayed in it," Huggins said. "We just don����ֱ���t score the ball close. How many times did you see a guy catch the ball from a foot and airball it? It����ֱ���s not just one guy, it����ֱ���s a whole host of guys."

But it was on the backboards where WVU had no excuses, being outrebounded by Oakland, 48-33.

"I think we gained some respect because of what we were doing on the glass.." Kampe said. "I know the respect that was earned. I know what their coaching staff said to me after. I����ֱ���m feeling really good walking away from this basketball game. I����ֱ���m worried about youth and about rim protection. We rebounded and protected the rim pretty well against a Big 12 team."

Huggins had no arguments here.

"We don����ֱ���t rebound the ball; we just stand around and watch. That has to get fixed in a hurry," he said, and went after it in Wednesday's practice where he guaranteed they would earn some black and blue marks from block out drills.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ����ֱ��� In a 60-53 Mountaineer season-opening victory over Oakland on Tuesday night at the WVU Coliseum, there were plenty of eye-catching numbers on the stat sheet.

Some good, some bad.

On the positive side of the ledger, West Virginia forced 25 Golden Grizzly turnovers, 12 of them from OU����ֱ���s all-Horizon Conference point guard Jalen Moore, who also was limited to just 2-of-16 shooting of the basketball. WVU����ֱ���s defense held Oakland to only 35.5% shooting on field goals as a team, and after falling behind OU 16-11 in the first nine minutes, contained the visitors to just one made bucket for the next six minutes to take a lead it wouldn����ֱ���t relinquish the rest of the way. Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil led the Mountaineers����ֱ��� offensive effort with 18 and 11 points respectively.

WVU coach Bob Huggins didn����ֱ���t accept the fact that his team was good defensively, though, at least not in all facets of the equation.

����ֱ���If you count rebounding as part of defense, which we do, we sucked,����ֱ��� stated Huggins bluntly. ����ֱ���I think we are getting better at staying in front of our guy, but we don����ֱ���t rebound the ball. We just stand around and watch.����ֱ���

The rebounding was the biggest negative for West Virginia, as it was outboarded 48-33.

The number that may have saved WVU from an upset loss wasn����ֱ���t even on the stat sheet, though. It was five. That����ֱ���s the number of charges West Virginia 6-foot-7 forward Gabe Osabuohien took, a season after he also led the team in that bruising category with 23.

����ֱ���That����ֱ���s important, especially when I����ֱ���m in the middle,����ֱ��� said Osabuohien of taking charges. ����ֱ���I����ֱ���m not a shot blocker, so to protect the paint and rim, I have to do that. It����ֱ���s easy to take charges when you have guards coming full speed trying to make plays. It����ֱ���s something I����ֱ���m used to.����ֱ���

According to Huggins, WVU likely wouldn����ֱ���t have beaten the Golden Grizzlies without Osabuohien����ֱ���s ability to step in and take a charge. ����ֱ���I think that����ֱ���s more than fair,����ֱ��� the coach agreed.

����ֱ���He����ֱ���s one of the best,����ֱ��� said West Virginia����ֱ���s veteran coach when asked where Osabuohien ranked in terms of the charge-takers he����ֱ���s had. ����ֱ���He����ֱ���s really good at getting his feet down. That����ֱ���s the key to it.����ֱ���

Osabuohien����ֱ���s physicality also translated to the boards. He had nine rebounds against OU and was the only Mountaineer with more than five. His teammates didn����ֱ���t keep up with his rebounding effort, though, and WVU lost the battle on the boards by 15.

����ֱ���That����ֱ���s definitely not something we want to do. I don����ֱ���t think an Oakland team should ever outrebound us in any situation,����ֱ��� stated Osabuohien. ����ֱ���It����ֱ���s definitely going to be an emphasis these next two days.����ֱ���

Huggins promised some ����ֱ���black-and-blue butts����ֱ��� during practices in the near future as his squad works on block-out drills.

����ֱ���That����ֱ���s got to get fixed in a hurry,����ֱ��� said Huggins, who won his 901st career game on Tuesday. ����ֱ���If they want to play, they����ֱ���ll learn. If they don����ֱ���t want to play, they won����ֱ���t.����ֱ���

While West Virginia got the season-opening victory and takes a 1-0 record into Friday����ֱ���s Backyard BasketBrawl against Pitt, the Mountaineers feel they still have to make a great deal of improvement.

����ֱ���Obviously, we have to get better at everything,����ֱ��� said Sherman. ����ֱ���I don����ֱ���t think we����ֱ���re real good right now. When Big 12 play is here, we can����ֱ���t play like this or we����ֱ���re going to lose by 20. We have to better in every facet of the game.����ֱ���

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. (WV News) ����ֱ��� Bob Huggins won his 901st basketball game as West Virginia opened its 2021-22 season with a 60-53 victory over Oakland, and if he learned anything from the game, it is that the second 900 wins are going to be a whole lot tougher to get.

His Mountaineers were ����ֱ��� well, we����ֱ���re trying to find words that aren����ֱ���t offensive to sum it up, but the only words that come to mind as not being offensive were written on the backs of the players he had on the floor. It was Taz Sherman, his shooting guard, who led the way with 18 points and five assists, who put it best when he said:

����ֱ���We just got to be better. We����ֱ���re not very good right now. We play like this when we play the Big 12 this year, we����ֱ���ll lose by 20. When you play teams like Kansas and Texas with 7-foot and 6-10 bigs, we����ֱ���re going to get outrebounded by more than the 15 we were tonight, and they are going to capitalize on those offensive rebounds.����ֱ���

You heard him right, there. WVU, a team coached by Huggins, who covets rebounds more than gold, was outrebounded by Oakland, a team with no player bigger than 6-8, 48 to 33, including 20 offensive rebounds.

There was one point in the first half where Oakland grabbed four uncontested offensive rebounds on one possession, enough to drive Huggins crazy.

Asked what went through his mind when that was happening, he answered:

����ֱ���I don����ֱ���t know if I should say. We����ֱ���re going to rebound until we got some black and blue butts tomorrow. How����ֱ���s that? We����ֱ���re going to block out and block out and block out.����ֱ���

The only thing really positive was the defense on the Oakland point guard Jalen Moore, who last year led the nation in assists. This year, he now leads the nation in turnovers, committing a record 13 turnovers for a West Virginia game while also going 2 of 16 shooting.

After what seemed like forever, basketball returned to the Coliseum, and it arrived with high hopes that soon would be dashed.

Let����ֱ���s just say basketball got here before the Mountaineers did.

If you could do it wrong, WVU did it in the first half. Wide open shots for Oakland. Straight line drives to the basket. Every loose ball went the Golden Grizzlies����ֱ��� way.

So, how did the Mountaineers go into halftime leading 27-23?

Harry Houdini, not Bob Huggins, must have been coaching them. The Mountaineers couldn����ֱ���t shoot, couldn����ֱ���t rebound and couldn����ֱ���t pass. Other than that, they were simply horrible.

Sean McNeil was supposed to be one of the big guns. He didn����ֱ���t score until 2:05 was left in the half, making his first 3 of the season. And then Sherman added a 3. That gave Sherman 9 points, which sounds a lot better than his 3-of-9 shooting looked.

If it weren����ֱ���t for Gabe Osabuohien, who came off the bench with fire in his eyes and passion in his heart, there was no way WVU would have been able to wrest the halftime lead away from Oakland. In fact, Huggins admitted that without Osabuohien, his team would not have won the game.

He showed off his new skill set, scoring six points and adding nine rebounds and three assists while drawing five charging fouls.

����ֱ���He����ֱ���s of the best at drawing charges,����ֱ��� Huggins said. ����ֱ���He brings great energy into the game and he has a great understanding of how to play the game. ����ֱ���

It was more businesslike as the second half opened as WVU, still creaking from the rust it displayed in the first half, began making shots and playing some defense and at the first time out had stretched out to a 40-31 lead. The 38th and 40th points came courtesy of a Jalen Bridges dunk that got the crowd revved up and into the swing of things.

The lead continued to swell, and there were a couple of significant moments.

First McNeil bottomed a 3 shot from near Fairmont, so long that it could have counted five points.

More important it was his 100th 3-point shot as a Mountaineer.

The other moment of significance in the end turned into nothing serious, but for a moment Taz Sherman came up limping after stealing away a pass.

It turned into nothing more than a cramp and he would return soon to the game, but it got you thinking about what could happen if he were to be injured.

Osabuohien continued to do what he does best, take charges. With 4:15 left, he drew his fourth charge of the game, three of them from Moore, who came into the game with the rep of being a good player.

He left wondering, making just 3 of 12 shots, but the most amazing thing for the man who led the nation in assists last year was he finished the game with 13 turnovers, being ticketed with four charging calls.

Somehow, Oakland hung in to the bitter end. In the last minute they trailed by six points but could get no closer.