No. 13 West Virginia Pulls Off Huge Comeback vs No. 12 Texas on the Road

West Virginia earned a signature win on Saturday over No. 13 Texas after trailing by as many as 19 points in the 2nd half. With the win, the Mountaineers move to 15-6 (8-4) on the season.

Both West Virginia and Texas played their first game in a week this evening, and despite having not played, there was no rust being shown in the first half as the two teams combined for 96 points.

The Longhorns jumped out to a quick 5-1 lead after a three-pointer from Courtney Ramey. West Virginia answered back with a 5-0 run with a three from Jalen Bridges in the corner to take their first lead of the day.

A few minutes later, Texas grabbed a comfortable eleven-point lead thanks to big man Jericho Sims dominating the glass on both ends of the floor and collected 10 first-half points, all of which were in the paint.

With the lack of energy and focus the Mountaineers showed on the defensive end of the floor, WVU head coach Bob Huggins was searching for answers. He subbed in true freshman big man Seny N'diaye and wing Taj Thweatt. Thweatt has only played in one Big 12 Conference game this season which came against Kansas State for a total of two minutes. On the year, Thweatt had played in just five games coming into Saturday.

Texas maintained about a 6-8 lead for the majority of the half but that closed with about three minutes remaining as Taz Sherman's three cut the lead to just two, 41-39. However, the Longhorns ended the half on a 12-4 run to take a 53-43 lead into the break.

West Virginia's defense continued to be troublesome in the early minutes of the second half as Texas knocked down three consecutive three-pointers to push the lead out to 17. With things beginning to break down, Huggins switched from a man-to-man defense to a zone and it disrupted Texas' offensive rhythm. The Mountaineers capitalized and started knocking down some shots including a pair of threes from Sean McNeil which cut it to just a three-point deficit with 7:30 remaining in the game. One minute later, Deuce McBride hit a three from the top of the key to tie the game up at 76 apiece.

The Mountaineers took their first lead of the game since it was 6-5 in the opening minutes of the game after Taz Sherman knocked down a pair of shots at the free-throw line. Texas turned the ball over on the ensuing possession and West Virginia's Sean McNeil was then fouled on a three-point attempt on the other end.

Courtney Ramey hit two big threes on back-to-back possessions to give Texas the lead back, 82-81. West Virginia followed that up by hitting three of their next four from the free-throw line to retake the lead, 84-82. Sean McNeil was looking to extend the lead but got his pocket picked and ended up fouling Matt Coleman. Coleman missed the front end of the one and one but McNeil couldn't corral the rebounds in play, giving the ball back to the Longhorns.

The officials put .3 seconds back on the clock and the tip-in at the rim fell short, locking up the win for West Virginia, 84-82.

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