West Virginia Veterans brought better production and leadership to the team in the second half of the season.
It continued Wednesday when the Mountaineers beat Texas Tech 78-62 in the opening round of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Conference Championship at Kansas City’s T-Mobile Center.
Seniors Eric Stevenson, Tre Mitchell, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Kedrian Johnson scored a combined 68 points in the win to beat West Virginia (19-13) to top-seeded Kansas at 3 p.m. Thursday. sent to the quarter-finals with
Johnson led all scorers with 20 points for his sixth performance of 20 or more points this season. Stevenson added his 18 points, including his 13 in the first half. Mitchell scored 17 points and had a team-high nine rebounds. Matthews recorded his 13 points in his fourth straight double-digit game.
“Our turnovers are down and we’re rebounding the ball better,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. playing now.
The Mountaineers’ defense strengthened by holding the Red Raiders (16-16) to their lowest points total since February 4 against Baylor.
WVU and TTU split their regular season meetings into two, with each team winning on the other’s home floor, but one of the more obvious differences in the matchup was rebounding, with the Red Raiders trailing 39-28 at Morgantown. Got an advantage.
However, the Mountaineers turned the script upside down by winning the board battle 39-35.
“We knew this was going to be an important part of the game,” said Mitchell. “When we played them at Tech, we killed them on grass and won. When we played and won West Virginia, they beat us on grass. We knew that as long as we controlled the area, we would be fine.”
West Virginia’s defense also strengthened in the second half, holding Texas Tech to 23% (30-7).
“Creating rotation and putting pressure on the ball all the time,” Johnson said of the key to slowing the Red Raiders down in the second half. “We always end up stealing the ball, but it comes down to our defense.”
Texas Tech scored the first six points and took a 9-2 lead after a Pop Isaacs three-pointer with 16:36 remaining. He led TTU with 15 points.
The Mountaineers struggled early, missing their first six field goals, but Mitchell scored one of three triples to cut the Red Raiders’ lead to nearly four minutes.
Stevenson’s first basket made it a 3 at the 11:44 mark, putting WVU within a point of 15–14. He scored 3 more cash 29 seconds after him to tie the game at 17.
The tide began to turn for the Mountaineers at the end of the first half as WVU scored eight unanswered points, including seven from Stevenson, to take a 31–24 lead.
“It’s always good for our team to see me, Tre, Keddy and Emmit hitting shots early on,” Stevenson said. “It wasn’t as fast as I would have liked. I didn’t get much in the first 10 minutes. I’m glad those two guys were in. Sadly calmed down. Sparks for the team. It is good to
The Red Raiders went almost 5:30 without a basket and were winning 15-3 during that stretch as the Mountaineers got baskets from Stevenson, Matthews, Johnson and Joe Toussaint. Texas Tech cut WVU’s lead to eight after an O’Bannoll triple with 2:45 remaining. It was Red’s first basket for the Raiders in 5:22.
WVU built a 43-30 lead, eight points clear at halftime.
Texas Tech made one field goal in the first seven minutes of the second half. This is his 3rd goal for Devion Harmon who scored 14 goals. Meanwhile, Mitchell hit Trey for a 53-39 lead and had a 58-43 advantage at the 14:32 mark.
O’Bannoll’s three points put the Red Raiders 12 ahead, but the Mountaineers scored nine unanswered points to hold a 67-46 advantage over Stevenson’s jumper with 6:49 remaining. .
WVU forced 15 Texas Tech turnovers and scored 12 points from those turnovers. The climber also assisted him with 14 of the 27 baskets.
The Red Raiders played without former head coach Mark Adams, who resigned late Wednesday after being suspended for racist remarks to a player. Tech announced earlier this week that it was investigating Adams and Corey Williams as interim coaches.
Syracuse’s Jim Boheim retired on Saturday, making Huggins the leader in college basketball active wins with 934.
In another Big 12 first-round matchup late Wednesday, Oklahoma State defeated Oklahoma, 57-49, to set up a quarterfinal matchup with No. 2 Texas.
