West Virginia Aims to Turn the Tide Against Texas

Morgantown, WV - West Virginia is seeking for its first consecutive wins against ranked opponents in nearly two seasons as the seventh-ranked Texas Longhorns (15-3, 4-2) will look to continue their recent dominance over the Mountaineers (11-7, 1-5), having won seven of the last nine meetings, Saturday evening. Tipoff is set for 6:00 p.m. and the action will air on ESPN.

Texas is coming off a 78-67 loss at Iowa State Tuesday night while the Mountaineers captured their first Big 12 Conference win with a 74-65 victory over No. 14 TCU.

“I think we’re all happy to win and I think we hopefully all understand that we need to continue to win,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.

The Longhorns’ four conference wins (@Oklahoma, @Oklahoma State, TCU, Texas Tech) were by an average margin of victory of 4.3 points per game, and the two losses (Kansas State, @Iowa State) were by a combined 22 points.

Texas guard Marcus Carr is averaging team-highs in scoring (17.1 ppg), assists, (4. 3) and steals (1.6). He’s The senior put up 19 and 20 points in the two wins against the Mountaineers last year.

Forward Timmy Allen and guards Tyrese Hunter and Sir’Jabari Rice combine for an average of 31.6 ppg. Allen is grabbing a team-leading 5.6 rebounds per game while Hunter and Rice both average 3.6 boards per game apiece.

West Virginia held No. 4 TCU to four offensive rebounds Wednesday night, the lowest the Mountaineers have held a Big 12 opponent this season and the Mountaineers eight steals on the night were a season-best in conference play.

Guard Kedrian Johnson scored a career-high 20 points in the win over TCU, behind a perfect 10-10 from the free throw line. The senior is one of four Mountaineers to lead the team in scoring in six conference games and is second on the team in scoring during that span with 11.2 ppg.

Forward Tre Mitchell is averaging a team-best 13.8 ppg in league play to go with a team-high 8.2 rebounds per game.

Huggins noted on Friday during the press conference leading up to the matchup, getting all these transfers to break the bad habit they have accumulated over the years has been challenging.

“We’re trying to get them to do what we do, what we believe is the right way and it takes time,” Huggins said. “I think we are just now getting to the point where everybody’s on the same page.”

Texas leads the all-time series 15-10.

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