Bob Huggins admits loss of Emmitt Matthews 'hurt us'

The West Virginia Mountaineers lost a heartbreaker in the first round of this year’s NCAA Tournament to the Maryland Terrapins, 67-65. Unfortunately for head coach Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers, they had a critical injury occur in the second half to Emmitt Matthews, Jr., one of their most talented players.

Matthews only played 23 minutes and had to leave the game after suffering a shoulder injury. Maryland big man Julian Reese was clearly sliding his feet to get in front of Matthews on a screen. The West Virginia forward suffered a stinger to his left shoulder and had to leave the game.

Following the game, Bob Huggins admitted how big of a loss it was to lose Matthews in his team’s first round matchup of the NCAA Tourney.

“It hurts us. He’s a five-year guy that knows what we want done. He’s our best perimeter defender. He gives us another guy on the glass who can keep balls alive and rebound it. And he makes open shots. I mean, that’s a huge loss for us,” Huggins said.

The 6-foot-7 senior started in every game he’s played in this season and averaged double figures for West Virginia on the year.

Huggins revealed that his team’s 12 turnovers and 24 fouls were the foundation for what turned out to be a heartbreaking end to the Mountaineers’ season. It hurts a little worse knowing they had a 13-point lead at one point.

“We were a little careless with the ball and they made shots. They made shots,” Huggins said postgame. “They started backing us in. We didn’t match up very well with them when they started matching us in — or backing us in, rather. It wasn’t a good matchup for us.”

Kedrian Johnson scored a game-high 27 points, and Tre Mitchell complemented him with 13 points of his own. For Maryland, the Terrapins had four starters finish with double figures and scored all but five of their points. The larger rotation of WVU and fresher bodies didn’t do anything to help the Mountaineers in that aspect.

West Virginia finished their season with a 19-15 record, and their postseason struggles have rolled over to yet another year. WVU hasn’t made it past the second round of the NCAA Tournament since the 2017-18 season. Their 9-seed was the lowest they earned under Huggins since they were a 10-seed back in 2012.

Huggins said that his main focus for the past month was getting his team into the tournament. WVU won four of its last six games with their only losses coming to 1-seed Kansas twice. That was good enough to get West Virginia in, but their trip to the Big Dance wouldn’t last longer than one game.

On3’s Alex Weber and Barkley Truax also contributed to this article.