The night before the most lopsided loss of his 26-year head coaching career, New Hampshire’s Bill Herrion scarcely slept.

He already sensed his Wildcats were grossly unprepared for the 40 minutes of smothering full-court pressure that awaited them.

They only had a single day to study film of how West Virginia deploys its traps. They also had no way to mimic the Mountaineers’ aggressiveness in practice. Even giving the scout team a sixth defender didn’t sufficiently imitate the difficulty of inbounding the ball, advancing it up court and trying to run set offense.

“It’s honestly very, very hard for a team at our level to try to simulate the speed, the athletic ability and the relentlessness of their defense,” Herrion said. “It’s constant, nonstop pressure. There’s nobody else in the country who does what they do.”

Such are the concerns of every coach who has prepared for college basketball’s most intimidating defense so far this season. Twelfth-ranked West Virginia has reeled off eight wins in its first nine games by unleashing a ball-hawking full-court press that’s more plunderous yet more disciplined than previous incarnations.

In its first nine games this season, West Virginia has harassed opponents into turnovers on a national-best 34.7 percent of their possessions. Not only is that better than the Mountaineers’ rate at this time the past two seasons, it’s also easily the highest rate in the 16 years that cover Ken Pomeroy’s database.

Equally encouraging for West Virginia is that it has generated 26 turnovers per game without fouling too often or surrendering too many easy transition baskets. Opponents are shooting a mere 37.8 percent from the field against the Mountaineers and are attempting 9.5 fewer free throws per game this season than they did last season.

To West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, those numbers reflect his team’s increased comfort level with the full-court press after three seasons running it full-time. That’s encouraging to Huggins even if some slippage is inevitable once the Mountaineers begin Big 12 play and encounter stronger opponents who are more familiar with the press.

“Hopefully we’ve gotten a little better coaching it and a little better playing it,” Huggins said. “It continues to evolve as people continue to do different things to attack it. We constantly have to come up with different ways to fight that and to keep making teams uncomfortable.”

West Virginia owes its success with full-court pressure to Huggins’ willingness to reinvent himself 37 years into his decorated coaching career.

Slow to adjust to the Big 12’s arduous travel schedule and unfamiliar style of play, West Virginia finished 13-19 in its first season in the league and lost in the opening round of the NIT the following year. Huggins hadn’t missed two straight NCAA tournaments in more than two decades, so he decided it was time to make a change before the 2014-15 season.

Full-court pressure was an appealing option to Huggins because it accentuated West Virginia’s ample depth and athleticism and covered up its poor outside shooting. The transfer of second- and third-leading scorers Eron Harris and Terry Henderson left the Mountaineers lacking perimeter threats besides standout Juwan Staten.

Hoping for some advice on whether to press and how best to teach it, Huggins sought out an old adversary hailed as a master of full-court pressure. Ex-Cleveland State coach Kevin Mackey took the Vikings to their lone Sweet 16 in 1986 using a press that he nicknamed the “Run and Stun.” As he is quick to point out, he also inflicted some damage on Huggins, who coached at nearby Akron in those days.

“We played six times,” Mackey said with a chuckle. “The Run and Stun won five of them.”

At a time when most coaches are too conservative to commit to pressing for all 40 minutes, Mackey describes himself as one of the last of the true believers. He’s adamant full-court pressure can be especially effective now in an era rife with players who are longer, faster and more athletic but often less skilled.

When Huggins first approached Mackey at the LeBron James Skills Academy 2 1/2 years ago, the West Virginia coach was still reticent to go all in on full-court pressure because he believed it might take years to properly implement. Mackey persuaded his longtime friend he could teach it far more quickly since his roster was well suited to it and his returning players were already accustomed to pressuring the ball and denying passing lanes.

Story continues