MORGANTOWN - Maybe it was appropriate.

After No. 25 West Virginia fell 61-55 to No. 5 Connecticut before a packed house at the Coliseum, an old AC/DC song echoed through the structure with the lyrics, "It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.''

Appropriate, perhaps, because WVU's weaknesses were exposed by the visitors.

Those watching saw the Mountaineers get outrebounded by the taller Huskies. (It was by an eye-opening 52-33 advantage.) They saw what can happen to the WVU team when foul trouble hits. (Da'Sean Butler, Darryl "Truck'' Bryant and surprisingly effective Cam Thoroughman had four each.) And they saw what happens when the shooting touch goes cold. (The team shot 30.3 percent.)

But don't be misled.

Bob Huggins has this team and program on the right track. You could see it through the cracks.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun knew his team had more talent on the floor Tuesday, yet he summed up the game this way: "Exhausting.''

Calhoun, he of the Hall of Fame credentials, a man who went past Lefty Driesell into seventh place all-time among coaches, said he "got nervous'' watching the Mountaineers drub Ohio State on Dec. 27. "The way they controlled the inside,'' he said with a shake of the head.

Then, later, he called the victory over WVU the season's "best win.''

"That was as hard as we've played all year,'' Calhoun said. "And [WVU is] a typical Bob Huggins team. They're going to come at ya and come at ya.

"It was a war. That's what the Big East symbolizes to me.''

Calhoun is fighting with sharp knives. There's Hasheem Thabeet, all 7-foot-3 of him. There's McDonald's All-American Kemba Walker. Sleek, strong players.

And Huggins is getting there. He's not exactly working with butter knives. Devin Ebanks was a heck of a land. Bryant too. Kevin Jones is decent. But razor sharp? Not yet.

"We've got unbelieveable mileage out of three freshmen,'' Huggins said. "But my concern is now we're playing against men.''

The Big East, in other words. A conference in which nine teams are ranked in the Top 25.

MORGANTOWN - Maybe it was appropriate.

After No. 25 West Virginia fell 61-55 to No. 5 Connecticut before a packed house at the Coliseum, an old AC/DC song echoed through the structure with the lyrics, "It's a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.''

Appropriate, perhaps, because WVU's weaknesses were exposed by the visitors.

Those watching saw the Mountaineers get outrebounded by the taller Huskies. (It was by an eye-opening 52-33 advantage.) They saw what can happen to the WVU team when foul trouble hits. (Da'Sean Butler, Darryl "Truck'' Bryant and surprisingly effective Cam Thoroughman had four each.) And they saw what happens when the shooting touch goes cold. (The team shot 30.3 percent.)

But don't be misled.

Bob Huggins has this team and program on the right track. You could see it through the cracks.

Connecticut coach Jim Calhoun knew his team had more talent on the floor Tuesday, yet he summed up the game this way: "Exhausting.''

Calhoun, he of the Hall of Fame credentials, a man who went past Lefty Driesell into seventh place all-time among coaches, said he "got nervous'' watching the Mountaineers drub Ohio State on Dec. 27. "The way they controlled the inside,'' he said with a shake of the head.

Then, later, he called the victory over WVU the season's "best win.''

"That was as hard as we've played all year,'' Calhoun said. "And [WVU is] a typical Bob Huggins team. They're going to come at ya and come at ya.

"It was a war. That's what the Big East symbolizes to me.''

Calhoun is fighting with sharp knives. There's Hasheem Thabeet, all 7-foot-3 of him. There's McDonald's All-American Kemba Walker. Sleek, strong players.

And Huggins is getting there. He's not exactly working with butter knives. Devin Ebanks was a heck of a land. Bryant too. Kevin Jones is decent. But razor sharp? Not yet.

"We've got unbelieveable mileage out of three freshmen,'' Huggins said. "But my concern is now we're playing against men.''

The Big East, in other words. A conference in which nine teams are ranked in the Top 25.

"We competed,'' Huggins said. "But when Da'Sean and Alex [Ruoff] go 9-for-29 we're not going to win.

"The frustrating thing is I said from Day 1 we'd take people out of their games. And we did [Tuesday]. At the end they didn't try to throw it inside. They spread it out.

"But we're not good enough; we're not big enough or tall enough or strong enough. So we have to do everything right. [Connecticut] can make more mistakes. They have a whole bunch of veteran guys. A whole bunch of really good veteran guys.''

Guys who almost played as hard as West Virginia. That's saying something because the Mountaineers play very hard.

"Everyone knows we work our butts off,'' Thoroughman said. "But those little things hurt us. Not blocking out. Me missing the front end of a one-and-one. You've got to hit that.''

Ruoff, the team's best pure shooter, was 4-for-16 and couldn't convert at the end.

"Tough,'' Ruoff said with head down. "I worked all summer to get ready for that [opportunity] and to not come through for my team is tough. I wouldn't wish that on anybody.''

Huggins proved somewhat prophetic. A few hours before the game he pointed to a pair of keys.

"Rebounding,'' he said, "and preventing [UConn] from penetrating.''

The Mountaineers were thoroughly dominated on the boards. Huskies were hanging from the rims. And the images seemed to stick in the hosts' heads and carry over to WVU's errant shooting.

And then, at the end, with the score 57-55, Calhoun spread his team out offensively. Jerome Dyson penetrated, splitting WVU's defense and getting to the bucket. When the timeout was called with 29.8 ticks left, UConn was up 59-55 and the game, we later saw, was over.

Huggins said in regard to denying penetration, "til the end we were OK.''

They were OK despite the disparity in talent. They were OK despite the disparity in height.

It's just a long way to the top if you wanna rock and roll.

Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827 or mitchvin...@wvgazette.com.