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West Virginia's Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles Jr. fight off tears talking about coach Bob Huggins

West Virginia senior guards Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles Jr.’s time in Morgantown has featured 105 wins, four NCAA tournaments, three Sweet 16 runs and well over 2,000 combined points.

It’s also a journey that came to an end on Friday night with a loss to Villanova in the Sweet 16. And with all that history at West Virginia, you can’t blame the duo for getting a little emotional postgame when they asked about their college careers and their coach, Bob Huggins.

“For me, it’s been everything,” Carter said, voice cracking. “[Huggins] just gave me a chance, a small guy from Maywood, Illinois, didn’t have a lot of looks. He just saw something in me that a lot of people didn’t.”

West Virginia was Carter’s lone power conference offer, according to Rivals. His other offers came from schools such as Loyola Chicago, Indiana State and Valparaiso. He turned into one of the best Mountaineers to ever take to the hardwood, joining the 1,000-point club as a junior (he finished with 1,746) and developing into one of the — if not the — best perimeter defenders college basketball has ever seen. He won defensive player of the year last year and could capture it again this season.

Miles Jr. also chimed in: “First off, I want to say ‘thank you’ to Coach Huggs for giving me the opportunity to play for West Virginia, and thank you to the state for showing us, just being great my four years. And ‘thank you’ to my teammates for staying down and working hard. Coach Huggs, man, he gave me an opportunity, like I said. That’s all I got to say. A great coach, man, a great person off the court, and it’s been fun. I wish we would have kept going, but I enjoyed every moment.”

Miles Jr. enjoyed a terrific senior year, averaging 12.8 points per game — his first year in double digits — and reached the 1,000-point plateau with 1,295 in his career.

Huggins also had high praise for his seniors: “These two guys have been — as good of players as they are, and they’re very good players — they’re going to go down as probably…well, not probably…the best four-year backcourt in the history of West Virginia basketball, and that’s saying a lot…

“These two guys are, they’re at the head of that class though. They work. They work every day in practice. They’re coachable. I’ve never had one complaint about either one of them. I’ve never had one issue with either one of them. They’re great people.”

West Virginia’s Jevon Carter covers his eyes as he exits the floor following his last game as a Mountaineer. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)
West Virginia’s Jevon Carter covers his eyes as he exits the floor following his last game as a Mountaineer. (AP Photo/Charles Krupa)