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The West Virginia Mountaineers lost to the Duquesne Dukes, 60-56, on Tuesday night in Pittsburgh's Consol Energy Center.
It was one of the toughest defeats to handle in recent memory, with West Virginia blowing a 13-point halftime lead en route to losing. It was a poor offensive showing by both teams, with only six players being able to crack the double-digit mark in points for the two squads combined.
Over at The Smoking Musket, some are predictably not happy with the way things went down:
That was flat-out embarrassing. Seriously. I'm embarrassed to be a WVU fan right now. A great night to be a Mountaineer, it is not. WVU blew a 13-point halftime lead to a VERY average (at best) Duquesne team that shot 56 percent from the free throw line and 16 percent from behind the arc.
The problem? Defensive lapses and a lack of hustle or toughness seems to be the primary culprits. I didn't get to watch the first half due to a prior work obligation, but the second half was flat out ugly. The Dukes shot layup after layup to take the lead with under 10 minutes to go, and the Mountaineers had no answer on the offensive end. Just no toughness, no will to win.
It's a bad loss only made worse by West Virginia's upcoming schedule. The Mountaineers will now face the No. 3 Michigan Wolverines in a contest that could be their toughest test of the entire campaign.
West Virginia will need to start shooting the ball much better to have any hope against Michigan. The team ranks 311th in the country in field goal percentage, hitting just 39 percent of its shots.