The Mountaineers (8 – 6, 1 – 1 Big 12) pulled off a major comeback in Austin, Texas as they erased a 13 point deficit to defeat the Longhorns (8 – 7, 0 – 2 Big 12) 57 – 53 in overtime.
The Mountaineers jumped out to an early 12 – 7 lead before going cold midway through the first half. Their big 4 of Kilicli, Murray, Rutledge, and Noreen would then get into early foul trouble allowing the Longhorns to take control. Thankfully, Texas was unable to convert from the charity stripe (4 – 14) to keep the game close. WVU used a late run to cut the lead to 24 – 21 going into the half. Both teams played a 2 – 3 zone in the first half keeping the game at it’s low scoring pace. It was the Mountaineers second lowest 1st half of the year (Scored only 18 at Gonzaga to open the season). WVU would go 0 – 12 from behind the 3pt arc in the opening half and 25% from the field.
Texas would start the second half on a high note with a 3 by Jonathan Holmes to extend the lead to 6. That lead would remain for most of the second half before Texas inflated it to 13 at 42 – 29 by way of a Longhorn 9 – 2 run. WVU would answer, though, with a 10 – 0 run to tie the game at 47 with 1:25 left. They would hit their first two 3 pointers of the game in this run, the first coming from Kevin Noreen and the second by Hinds to cut it to two. They would tie it a few seconds later thanks to a Gary Brown steal and layup. He would be fouled on the play but miss the free throw to keep the game tied.
Texas would get a chance to take the lead with under a minute left but they were unable to get a shot off and turnover the ball to the Mountaineers. WVU would then take it back down the court and, with the help from some beautiful ball movement, get a wide open look by Aaric Murray for the three and the lead. Only problem was there was too much time left on the clock and Texas would be able to get an open look from Holmes out of an inbound play to force overtime.
The two teams would exchange buckets to start the overtime before the Mountaineers would put together a huge possession that consisted of 3 offensive rebounds after running the shot clock down to close to zero on each chance. They would not score in the possession, but they did run over 2 minutes off of the clock. Both teams would exchange a made free throw and Texas would have the ball down 2 with less than 25 seconds left. WVU Head Coach, Bob Huggins, would change up his defense to a 1 – 3 – 1 zone which proved to be the perfect choice as it produced a Murray steal. He would be fouled and hit both of his charity tosses to clinch it, somehow. Final Score: Mountaineers 57 Texas 53.
Even with the ugly shooting performance, Coach Huggins was happy with the effort and intensity, “I’m very proud of them,” Huggins said, “If we play with that kind of enthusiasm and intensity, we’re going to be fine.”
Final Notes
–Juwan Staten sat out the second half due do disciplinary reasons. Coach Hugs told the MSN postgame show that Staten had a disagreement with Huggins coaching and sat because of it. “This isn’t his team.” Huggins said, “It’s mine. And he’s going to do what I tell him to do.”
— WVU ended the game 3 – 20 from behind the arc. The three 3 pointers came with less than 3 minutes remaining in regulation.
— The Mountaineers owned the boards outrebounding Texas 42 – 37 and 15 – 12 on the offensive boards.
The Mountaineers will next be in action at home on Saturday against Kansas State.
