West Virginia Takes on Texas in Return Game

The Mountaineers head to Austin seeking revenge against the Longhorns

Austin, TX – The West Virginia Mountaineers (15-9, 4-7) meet the Texas Longhorns (19-5, 8-3) Saturday at noon in the first of a two-game road trip.

The Longhorns are 3-2 after beating the Mountaineers in Morgantown 69-61 on Jan. 21. The losses were on the road against top 10 opponents. Former Texas head coach Rick Barnes and his Tennessee Volunteers knocked off Texas in the Big 12/SEC Challenge, and then on Monday night, Kansas kept pace for the top spot in the conference with a 68-60 win over the Longhorns. However, in the midst of the five-game stretch, Texas avenged its only loss at home this season against Kansas State last Saturday with a 69-66 road win.

The Longhorns forced 20 Mountaineer turnovers in the first meeting and squeezed out a 69-61 victory over West Virginia in Morgantown. Texas leading scorer Marcus Carr (17.0 ppg) recorded a game-high 23 points while forwards Dylan Disu and Christian Bishop combined for 24 points and 12 rebounds.

Carr ranks fifth in the league in scoring (16.5) during conference play and in field goal shooting percentage (44.2%) and sixth in assists (3.7).

West Virginia guard Kedrian Johnson produced a team-high 22 points versus the Longhorns. WVU is 4-1 when Johnson leads the team in scoring, including a game-high 22 points in the Mountaineers’ win 76-71 over Iowa State Wednesday night.

The Mountaineers are 4-1 since the loss to Texas – three of the wins were against top 15 teams. West Virginia immediately bounced back from the loss to the Longhorns by snapping a 12-game conference road losing streak with a resounding 76-61 win at Texas Tech but stumbled at TCU on their lone loss during the five-game stretch.

Erik Stevenson propelled the Mountaineers in two of the recent wins. The guard went for a career-high 31 points against Auburn and then reset the mark last Saturday with 34 in a dominant win over Oklahoma.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. recorded 20 points on 7-10 shooting from the field and collected five rebounds in Wednesday night’s win versus No. 11 Iowa State, marking his first 20-point performance of the season.

Texas leads the all-time series 16-10. The Longhorns are 8-2 in the last 10 meetings.

You can follow us for future coverage by liking us on Facebook & following us on Twitter:

Facebook - @MountaineersNow

Twitter - @MountaineersNow and Christopher Hall @WVHallBilly