MORGANTOWN - In one instance, Tarik Phillip was completely untouchable.
With three baskets and eight points in 70 seconds, Phillip literally stole a win for West Virginia on the road against a shocked Texas Tech. The final basket last Saturday, a determined dunk with 2 seconds to go, was followed by a volcanic display. Phillip balled up his right fist and thumped his chest. He snarled and sneered and stared at a camera.
He didn't much care that the final play was happening on the floor and his coach, Bob Huggins, was waving at his players and telling them to get back, never mind WVU was up by four points.
"Who's that guy?" the junior guard repeated. "That's the dude inside of me that comes out sometimes. I like to play with emotion. That's what gets teammates going."
That's why the Mountaineers brought Phillip to campus in 2014. Before the 2013-14 season, he was invited to an annual showcase of the country's top second-season junior college players - and Phillip played zero games in the 2012-13 season. In the 2014 season, he was his conference's player of the year and honorable mention all-American - and he only played 18 games.
One of his coaches called him a pit bull, and he said the Mountaineers told Phillip during the recruiting process that he'd make their practices worthwhile again.
On the day Phillip signed, Huggins predicted Phillip would be "very instrumental in our quest to become a great defensive team again." After his heroics against the Red Raiders, the Mountaineers coach praised Phillip's courage.
But in the next instance for Phillip, he was utterly touchable.
His first movements on the court against Kansas State on Tuesday took Phillip to the basket, which is common these days. He leans and accelerates to get around defenders and then seemingly climbs invisible steps as he approaches the rim and waves his arms around obstacles.
One of those waves initiated some contact, and Phillip managed to score before taking a tumble. There was no foul, and Phillip, who is third on the team in free-throw attempts despite being fifth in minutes and sixth in field-goal attempts, said he wanted the three-point play and yelled, "And one."
That's as ordinary as a turnover in today's game, but the official thought it was too much and slapped Phillip with a technical foul.
"I didn't even think I was going to receive a tech, to be honest with you," he said. "I thought I got hit. I guess it was just one of those plays."
He took seat on the bench and played just five minutes in the first half. He wound up playing 15 minutes, his second-lowest total in Big 12 play - and the lowest was 12 minutes in the empty home loss to Texas.
He finished with nine points on 3-for-4 shooting with three assists, a steal and a blocked shot, but he also had four turnovers. That's the part that bothered him. Not the technical foul. Not the fact his momentum didn't transition from Lubbock, Texas, to the Coliseum.
"That was already over with, I feel like the next time we practiced," he said.
Plus, Phillip has had big moments before. He scored 13 in a home win against Kansas last season and made a decisive 3 against Buffalo in the NCAA tournament. He scored 74 points in a six-game stretch earlier this season.
But at no point did Phillip ever think he arrived. Not when he was giving his team another round in the postseason. Not when he was being featured on a variety of highlight shows.
This is the same player, after all, who attended two high schools, a prep school and two junior colleges before debuting last fall with the Mountaineers.
"That's what made me what I am," he said. "It humbled me when I was playing in prep school and going to junior colleges. It was a humbling experience. I still speak to the people there now, and they continue to encourage me to work hard."
Phillip has needed it, too. He's scored in double figures six times now, but he didn't have one in the first eight games, some of those against really weak opposition. He averages 8.1 points, but he's had half of his double-digit scoring games in the Big 12, where he averages 10.3 points.
One of the team's best drivers and finishers has become one of the best 3-point shooters, but it wasn't long ago he was the worst. Phillip started the season 0 for 12. When you start 0 for 12 for Huggins, you might finish 0 for 12. Phillip had a little more freedom than that.
"As long as it's a good shot, he doesn't have a problem with it," Phillip said, "but you can't miss a whole bunch of shots."
He's made 12 of 26 since.
"Huggs says the shots aren't going to start falling by themselves," Phillip said. "You've got to work at it. He told us other players in the Big 12 shoot very well, and not because they go into the game and shoot it. They work on their craft and shoot the ball, which is what I started to do."