Shorthanded Mountaineers Struggle in Big 12 Opener vs. Texas

The West Virginia Mountaineers (11-2, 0-1) opened Big 12 Conference play on the road without leading scorer Taz Sherman and nucleus Gabe Osabuohien, due to COVID-19 protocols and suffered a 74-59 loss to the No. 17 Texas Longhorns (11-2, 1-0) Saturday afternoon.

Texas came into the game as the number one scoring defense in the country, and without the Big 12's second-leading scorer Taz Sherman, the Mountaineers were held to 20 first half points along with committing 12 turnovers, and as a result, the Longhorns took a 39-20 lead into halftime behind 13 points from guard Courtney Ramey.

West Virginia was able to keep pace in the second half as Jalen Bridges poured in a team-high 18 points, all in the second half, and guard Malik Curry finished with 14 points and Sean McNeil 12. However, turnovers continued to plague the Mountaineers, and were never able to significantly cut into the deficit despite Texas shooting 34.5% in the second half as the Longhorns cruised to the 74-59.

West Virginia's scheduled game versus TCU on Tuesday has been postponed and the Mountaineers will not be back in action until Saturday, January 8th at 2:00 pm EST versus the Kansas State Wildcats inside the WVU Coliseum.

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