On Wednesday, West Virginia will travel to Lubbock, Texas, to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders in another Big 12 conference game.
West Virginia (11-8, 1-6 Big 12) could not ride the momentum from a win over then-No. 14 TCU to take down then-No. 7 Texas, as the Longhorns left Morgantown with a 69-61 win, dropping the Mountaineers’ conference record to 1-6.
While the Mountaineers have struggled, they have another opportunity in front of them, and this contest seems a bit more feasible than slaying a giant like Kansas, Texas, or Baylor.
While West Virginia fans may like the odds against Texas Tech, the Mountaineers will have to do something they haven’t done since the days of Deuce McBride and Derek Culver — win a road conference game.
“We got to block the noise,” WVU assistant coach Josh Eilert said on Tuesday. “They’re going to have a great environment regardless of their record. They’re going to come out with a lot of energy, so we have got to feed off of it in some form or fashion.”
Texas Tech has had success over the last few years, and even with a staff change before the 2021-2022 season, the Red Raiders still had a 27-10 season, reaching the Sweet 16 in head coach Mark Adams’s first season at the helm.
This recent success has turned United Supermarkets Arena into one of the most challenging places to play in the conference, so West Virginia will need to get the monkey off its back in terms of showing up in hostile environments.
The Red Raiders have not seen that same success play out in 2022-2023, as they are the one team beneath West Virginia in the Big 12 standings, sitting at 0-7 in league play.
Despite the struggles this season, Texas Tech is still a talented team that could make a run in this league. The Red Raiders bring experienced stars De’Vion Harmon and Kevin Obanor to the table, and the pair have both been playing well, with Harmon averaging 12 points and three assists per game, while Obanor is getting 14.7 points and 6.3 rebounds per game.
Also adding to the talent of Texas Tech is freshman guard Pop Isaacs. The Las Vegas native is currently averaging 12.1 points per game and has scored double digits in all six Big 12 games he has played in, including a 23-point performance at Texas.
Despite the fact that WVU’s Tre Mitchell has been scoring the ball fairly well as of late, Texas Tech may pose a threat to the Mountaineers at the forward position, as Obanor can score around the rim, but also shoots 32 percent from three-point range. Also at the forward position is Utah Valley transfer Fardaws Aimaq.
Aimaq averaged 18.9 points and 13.6 rebounds per game last year for Utah Valley and has returned from a foot injury. The 6-foot-11, 245-pound Aimaq put up six points and six rebounds at Kansas State, 12 points and nine rebounds against Baylor, and 12 points and five rebounds at Texas.
While the Mountaineers will have their hands full with Obanor and Aimaq, another forward could step in and give the Red Raiders good minutes is Daniel Batcho. Batcho averages 9.6 points per game along with 6.8 rebounds per game. The sophomore put up six points and four rebounds against Kansas State, so look for him to possibly steal some points when WVU focuses on Obanor and Aimaq.
As for the Mountaineers, players like Mitchell and Erik Stevenson will need to elevate their games and take care of the ball in order to get that all elusive Big 12 road win.
In WVU’s 69-61 loss to Texas, Mitchell turned the ball over five times while only shooting 4 for 11 from the field. Stevenson only shot 2 for 9 from the field and turned the ball over three times, including a couple of bad inbound passes.
“Just careless with the ball,” Mitchell said after the loss on Saturday. “We’ve got to take more care of it.”
Another Mountaineer that struggled to take care of the ball on Saturday was Kedrian Johnson, who had six turnovers against the Longhorns. Despite turning the ball over a bit too much, Johnson has been WVU’s most consistent form of offense in the last two games, as the fifth-year senior scored 20 points while shooting 5 for 8 from the field in the win over TCU, and came back with 22 more points against Texas, shooting 6 for 9 from the field against the Longhorns.
Johnson paired with Joe Toussaint off the bench has proven to work for the Mountaineers this season, and while Toussaint didn’t get very many minutes against Texas, he is expected to check in more going forward, which will help WVU if the offense gets stagnant.
West Virginia and Texas Tech will meet at United Supermarkets Arena on Wednesday, January 25. Tip-off is set for 7 p.m. and the action can be viewed on ESPNU.
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
