Andrew Dieb-USA TODAY Sports
West Virginia Stumbles in Ft. Worth
Ft. Worth, TX – The No. 17 West Virginia Mountaineers (19-8, 7-7) had its road game losing streak extended to five following a 67-60 overtime loss to the Texas Christian Horned Frogs (15-12, 6-8) Saturday afternoon.
TCU jumped out to an early 6-0 lead on three consecutive layups, but the West Virginia’s defense started to clamp down, then got back within one after Emmitt Matthews Jr went soaring through the air, grabbed the offensive rebound and threw it down.
Desmond Bane pushed the TCU lead to four following a three with a hand in his face and as the shot clock expired. Nonetheless, the Mountaineers put together a 15-1 run behind Derek Culver owning the paint with six points and Taz Sherman hitting from the outside for five points during that span to grab a 25-15 lead at 7:58 mark of the first half.
The Horned Frogs cut the deficit to four, but the Mountaineers answered with a 6-0 spurt of their own started with a beautiful turnaround one-handed jumper from Derek Culver over Kevin Samuel.
West Virginia was held scoreless in the final 3:30 of the first half, committing two turnovers, going 0-3 from the field and 0-2 from the free throw line opened the door for TCU to go on an 8-0 run and back within two 31-29 at the break.
TCU continued to drive the ball to the basket for easy buckets and a three from RJ Nembhard propelled the Horned Frogs to an 11-2 run to start the second half and a seven-point lead but Jordan McCabe was able to end the run with a jumper at the top of the key.
“We didn’t guard them,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “One, we didn’t guard them. Two, they made open shots, we didn’t. Three, we didn’t come close to guarding the pick and roll the way we worked for two days on guarding it and that was primarily a freshman.”
A fadeaway jumper from Taz Sherman off the left elbow then he tied the game at 44 pulling up along the baseline for the bucket.
Sean McNeil kept the Mountaineers within striking distance with a pair of jumpers from the corner, then they worked the ball into Culver, and he contorted his way with a par of lay-ins to grab a 54-53 lead with 1:56 remaining.
TCU took the lead after a pair of free throws from Samuels and Oscar Tshiebwe went 1-2 from the foul line to tie the game with just over a minute to play.
After TCU came away with two empty possession, Taz Sherman got a good look off the left-wing but was off the mark as Desmond Bane chased the rebound down and raced down the floor with seconds remaining, and as he made his move to the basket, contact was made with Jermaine Haley and an offensive foul was called with 0.9 seconds remaining. Sean McNeil got a shot off from three-quarter court hit off the back iron and the game headed to overtime.
In overtime, TCU struck first when Jaire Grayer hit a three, but Derek Culver answered on the post as he finished the day a double double going for 18 points and 12 rebounds. However, West Virginia finished shooting 1-6 from the field as TCU closed out the game for a 67-60 win.
West Virginia has now lost four out of their last five games and, in a quick turnaround, the Mountaineers head over to Austin to take on the Texas Longhorns at 7:00 pm on ESPNU.
