ANAHEIM, Calif. - West Virginia's 73-66 victory over Texas A&M in the second round of the 76 Classic tournament had more of a Philadelphia flavor than that of Southern California.

It was a grinder.

With standout Devin Ebanks back on the floor, the No. 8 Mountaineers had to push to the end to put the Aggies away.

WVU coach Bob Huggins was asked if his team, 3-0 without Ebanks, could be great with him.

"I think we suck right now, with or without Devin,'' Huggins said. "Down the line, though ... There aren't many teams with forwards who can do what [Ebanks and Da'Sean Butler] can do. They both can shoot; they both can guard; they both can handle the ball.

"But we're nowhere near where we need to be. And all of our older guys understand. We're not near as good a basketball team today as we were at the end of last year.''

Huggins was asked about the Mountaineers' struggles, especially toward the end when WVU made some quick shots and committed turnovers rather than milk the clock.

"We just need to play,'' Huggins said. "I asked these guys at the end of last year what they wanted to do and they said play a great schedule. This is what they wanted to do to get prepared for where they want to go.''

Ebanks' return resulted in a solid outing. He hit 4-of-6 shots, 5-of-5 free throws, had nine rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot to go with three turnovers.

"I felt good,'' Ebanks said. "I was a little winded at the first media timeout, but felt good and in the groove afterward.''

The guard said he needed the extra day, WVU's win over Long Beach, to get ready.

"It wasn't difficult [sitting out],'' he said. "I knew my teammates would take care of business.''

Ebanks said his absence was because of "personal reasons with my family I had to work out.''

"I wasn't concerned about how [Ebanks] fit in,'' Huggins said of holding Ebanks out. "He hadn't practiced. It was about his stamina.''

Ebanks' teammates were happy to have the guard back.

"Did you see those plays he made at the end?'' asked forward Kevin Jones. "That's why it's good having him back.''

"He's long; he's 6-9; he's athletic; he's one of our better defenders,'' said WVU point guard Truck Bryant. "We definitely need him on the court. I'm just glad to have him back.''

"We missed him a lot. I think he did a good job, honestly. He helped in a big way. He helped offensively and defensively. He came right in and knocked down shots back-to-back. I said, 'You're back!' ''

ANAHEIM, Calif. - West Virginia's 73-66 victory over Texas A&M in the second round of the 76 Classic tournament had more of a Philadelphia flavor than that of Southern California.

It was a grinder.

With standout Devin Ebanks back on the floor, the No. 8 Mountaineers had to push to the end to put the Aggies away.

WVU coach Bob Huggins was asked if his team, 3-0 without Ebanks, could be great with him.

"I think we suck right now, with or without Devin,'' Huggins said. "Down the line, though ... There aren't many teams with forwards who can do what [Ebanks and Da'Sean Butler] can do. They both can shoot; they both can guard; they both can handle the ball.

"But we're nowhere near where we need to be. And all of our older guys understand. We're not near as good a basketball team today as we were at the end of last year.''

Huggins was asked about the Mountaineers' struggles, especially toward the end when WVU made some quick shots and committed turnovers rather than milk the clock.

"We just need to play,'' Huggins said. "I asked these guys at the end of last year what they wanted to do and they said play a great schedule. This is what they wanted to do to get prepared for where they want to go.''

Ebanks' return resulted in a solid outing. He hit 4-of-6 shots, 5-of-5 free throws, had nine rebounds, two steals and a blocked shot to go with three turnovers.

"I felt good,'' Ebanks said. "I was a little winded at the first media timeout, but felt good and in the groove afterward.''

The guard said he needed the extra day, WVU's win over Long Beach, to get ready.

"It wasn't difficult [sitting out],'' he said. "I knew my teammates would take care of business.''

Ebanks said his absence was because of "personal reasons with my family I had to work out.''

"I wasn't concerned about how [Ebanks] fit in,'' Huggins said of holding Ebanks out. "He hadn't practiced. It was about his stamina.''

Ebanks' teammates were happy to have the guard back.

"Did you see those plays he made at the end?'' asked forward Kevin Jones. "That's why it's good having him back.''

"He's long; he's 6-9; he's athletic; he's one of our better defenders,'' said WVU point guard Truck Bryant. "We definitely need him on the court. I'm just glad to have him back.''

"We missed him a lot. I think he did a good job, honestly. He helped in a big way. He helped offensively and defensively. He came right in and knocked down shots back-to-back. I said, 'You're back!' ''

Texas A&M coach Mark Turgeon looked at the game's box score in the Anaheim Convention Center hall after his team's loss.

"Butler,'' Turgeon said, shaking his head. "He's the whole key.''

Butler had two points in the first half, yet finished with 17.

Heading into Sunday's 10 p.m. championship, WVU has some work to do. The Mountaineers had 16 turnovers. More pressing, though, was the Aggies' ability to score 36 points in the paint.

Many of those points came from Texas A&M's guards turning the corner and getting to the glass.

"That was the whole scouting report,'' said WVU's Bryant. "So that was nothing but our faults. The coaches did a great job on the scouting report. We didn't do a good enough job studying it and putting it into play.''

"It was a lack of us putting our bodies on somebody,'' Jones added. "We did that better in the second half.''

The Mountaineer defense held the Aggies to 32 points in the second half.

"We switched better,'' Bryant said. "We did a little something different. We switched everything but me. They wanted me to stay with my man.''

He added that, "We have a lot of tightening up to do, but we're a tough team.''

WVU had to wait until late to find out its championship opponent.

The Mountaineers' prior opponent, however, fared well against ranked Clemson. Long Beach fell just 87-79 Friday afternoon.

Reach Mitch Vingle at 304-348-4827, mitchvin...@wvgazette.com or follow him at http://twitter.com/MitchVingle.