Mountaineers Embark On Untimely Week-Long Road Trip To Texas
On Saturday, the No. 13 West Virginia is embarking on a six-day road trip to Texas. The Mountaineers (14-6, 7-4 Big 12) are slated to play three games, including matchups against No. 12 Texas (13-5, 7-4 Big 12), TCU (11-8, 4-6 Big 12), and No. 2 Baylor (17-0, 9-0 Big 12). WVU will then return to the Coliseum to close out the Big 12 play with a game against Kansas State.
The Mountaineers' trip to Texas comes at the peak of a devastating winter storm that has left most of the state with record-low temperatures, power outages, food shortages, and a lack of safe water. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins expressed his concerns with the timing of his team's exceptionally long trip to the Lone Star State.
"There's a lot of issues," Huggins said. "You've got situations with the plane, obviously. You've got situations with the hotels. You have, in some cases, situations with the arenas. They've got pretty much state-wide issues with power and water. I think it's kind of a wait-and-see situation."
According to Huggins, there has been no discussion of postponing the contests in Texas. While the state's turmoil is of utmost concern, Huggins' worries extend to the academic repercussions that the six-day stint will have on his players.
"There are a lot of concerns about a lot of things," Huggins said. "We're taking guys out of class for a week. We then have a conference tournament where they're out of class. Then we have an NCAA tournament in which they're out of class. I think that's a concern."
The Mountaineers will fly into Austin, travel nearly 200 miles by bus to Fort Worth, then drive another 100 miles to Waco before flying back to Morgantown.
"Certainly, the weather is a concern. Travel is a concern. There's a lot of concerns. Quite frankly, playing three games in six days and riding three and a half hours on a bus in between them is a concern."
Despite an abundance of less-than-ideal circumstances, Huggins does believe that his team is prepared to tackle the three-game stretch. The Mountaineers opened the 2020-21 season with a three-day trip to South Dakota, where they played three back-to-back games in the Bad Boy Mowers Crossover Classic.
"I think playing in South Dakota probably will help us," Huggins said. "That's what you did there: you play the game, then you go back to the hotel and watch film. We break things down and try to figure out what we can do to be successful and what we can do to try to keep them from being as successful, then you go play the game."
The stakes couldn't be higher for the Mountaineers, who are fighting to surpass the Longhorns in conference standings. The two teams are tied for fourth place in the Big 12 with identical 7-4 conference records. Both the Mountaineers and Longhorns are returning from week-long breaks due to cancelled competitions.
West Virginia and Texas last faced-off on January 9th in Morgantown, when guard Andrew Jones sank a long-range three that gave Texas a 72-70 edge over the Mountaineers. Six weeks later, Huggins says that he knows what to expect from Shaka Smart and his Longhorns.
"They're playing about the same way," said Huggins. "I think Shaka has gotten seemingly a lot more confidence in his bench. He's playing his bench more than he did at that point in time. I think we all are."
The Mountaineers and Longhorns tip-off Saturday at 3:00 p.m. EST on ABC.
