Bob Huggins Thrilled after Mountainers Big Win in Lubbock

Lubbock, TX – On Tuesday night, The No. 14 West Virginia Mountaineers captured their first top 10 road win inside a Big 12 Conference since joining the conference in 2012 after defeating the No. 7 Texas Tech Red Raiders 82-71 behind a career-high 26 points from Sean McNeil and a 20-point second half output from Miles “Deuce” McBride.

West Virginia forward Derek Culver carved out an early six points in the paint, and guard Sean McNeil heated up with a quick five points from the outside as the Mountaineers jumped out to an early 13-5 lead.

The Mountaineers held an 18-13 advantage till guard Miles Deuce McBride picked up his second foul at the 11:00 mark of the first half, and the Red Raiders quickly took advantage with a 9-1 run behind a pair of threes from Mac McClung and Jamarius Burton to take their first lead of the game and hold a 22-19 lead.

McNeil ended the run with a three from the right corner before Jordan McCabe worked his way to a jump shot off an assist from forward Gabe Osabuohien for a 24-22 edge with 7:35 to play in the first half.

Culver continued to overmatch the Red Raiders inside but had to earn his points at the free throw line. He delivered, hitting 6-8 from the charity stripe, and went into the break with 12 points and six rebounds, while McNeil had an efficient 6-8 shooting from the field, including 3-5 behind the arc for 15 first half points.

“Any time he’s hitting his first couple of shots, we know it’s going to be a long game for the other guy guarding him," said McBride. “We see it every day in practice, and when he’s playing with the confidence like that, that’s ‘Hot Boy’ out there – he’s hard to stop,” adding, “We had a lot of things going the wrong way, and Sean stepped up - Jordan came in and played really well for us, and a lot of guys did what they needed to do and step up in their role,”

A rejuvenated McBride came out of the locker room at halftime and set the tone, scoring six points in the first three and a half minutes of the second half, and McNeil delivered a corner three off a Jalen Bridges offensive rebound to go up eight.

However, the Red Raiders were able to stay within striking distance and as a team fought on both ends of the floor to capture a one-point lead with 8:26 to play in the game, but McBride buried a three from the top of the key to quickly regain the lead.

Texas Tech guard Micah Peavy tied the game on the next possession, but Jalen Bridges hit a deep three off the left wing to give the Mountaineers a 63-60 lead with just over seven minutes remaining in the game.

The Mountaineers were able to grow their lead to seven after McNeil hit his fifth three on the night, and Derek Culver delivered an old fashioned three-point play after receiving the ball in the middle of the paint, spinning to his left, drawing the contact, drifted towards the baseline and hit the bucket and the foul for a 71-64 lead with just over three minutes to play.

Texas Tech took advantage of consecutive empty Mountaineer possessions, and Terrance Shannon Jr. got the Red Raiders back within two following a three with 1:53 left to play before Huggins called a timeout to regroup.

West Virginia appeared to be going on their third-straight trip down the floor without any points after a blocked shot went out of bounds with two seconds remaining on the shot clock, but Mac McClung was called for a foul before the ball was back into play and Bridges hit both free throws to push the lead to four.

Then, after McClung missed a contested layup, he played McBride tight down the floor, and it ended his night picking up his fifth in final foul as McBride hit both free throws to give West Virginia a 75-69 advantage with just over a minute to play.

"I got to give our guys credit, we switched defenses a couple of times, and they did a great job. They did a better job defensively of knowing what to do than offense at times...You think about the combinations we had out there, and they fought their way through it. Made big shots. JB made a huge three, and Sean made a huge three when they were closing the gap late in the game."

Following a pair of Texas Tech free throws to cut the deficit down to six with 26.3 seconds remaining, the Mountaineers were struggling to get the ball up the court, and McBride had to dive for a loose ball on the floor, and in the scramble, the officials called a foul and Texas Tech. Head coach Chris Beard visibly disagreed with the call and was ejected from the game. McNeil hit all three technical foul free throws to end the night with a career-high 26 points, and McBride had another tremendous second half performance with all 20 of his points coming in the second half as the Mountaineers went on to win 82-71.

“Everybody talks a great team win and sometimes you look at that and you say you got to be kidding me - some of those guys sucked,' you know" But Nah, we were good,” said Huggins. “What Gabe did defensively at the end of the game, which he always does, but he single-handedly shut off their penetration, he did a great job. JB did a great job. I’m as pleased as I can be as to how well we played.”

“We really banded together as a team tonight,” said McBride. “Things got really hard out there, and we only got stronger. We came together and got the job done. Guys made plays that needed to make plays at the right time.” McBride also credited Emmitt Mathews Jr. and Jalen Bridges for crashing the boards.

West Virginia is back in action Saturday afternoon as they play host to the No. 12 Oklahoma Sooners at 1:00 pm EST on ESPN.

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