Texas Tech led West Virginia 6-0 just 2:03 into Wednesday night’s game. West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins would take out his leading scorer Erik Stevenson, sitting him until the 12:25 mark of the first half.
The Mountaineers would trail 15-9 when Stevenson came back in, but back-to-back three-pointers from him, along with help from Kedrian Johnson and Emmitt Matthews would help the Mountaineers find their footing as a balanced attack would help them beat the Red Raiders SCORE in the first round of the Big 12 Tournament.
“It was a good win. I talked to the guys before the game, if you look at our resume, the biggest blemish we had was that home loss to Texas Tech,” West Virginia assistant coach Josh Eilert said on the radio after the game.
No. 8 West Virginia was led by Johnson who scored 20 points, while three other Mountaineers scored at least 13 points. West Virginia’s defense was also brought to the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, as they forced 15 turnovers, leading to 16 points.
Things started off slow for West Virginia. No. 9 Texas Tech — playing without their head coach Mark Adams — came out hot, leading 9-2 early as the Mountaineers struggled to score without Stevenson on the court.
When Stevenson came back in though, the Mountaineers looked like a completely different team.
After Stevenson was inserted back into the game, West Virginia outscored Texas Tech 34-20 to close the half. Stevenson would go into the locker room with 13 points, while Johnson had 10, and Emmitt Matthews had 10. West Virginia also held a 43-35 lead at the break.
“Sometimes you just got to sit down and re-evaluate where you’re at and get back in there and get going again,” Eilert said.
In the second half, the Mountaineers did not let up. Johnson made a three-pointer early, followed by a three-pointer from Mitchell, putting WVU in front by 14 and forcing a Texas Tech timeout with 16:35 to play.
The Red Raiders would score the next four points all on free throws, but that is the closest they would get.
West Virginia went on a 14-3 run from the 15:27 to the 6:49 mark of the second half, with Mitchell leading four different scorers with five points during the run. Mitchell finished with 17 points, and nine rebounds on the evening.
The run would put West Virginia in front by 21 as the Red Raiders could never cut the deficit to under 12.
The four West Virginai starters of Johnson, Stevenson, Mitchell, and Matthews combined for 68 of West Virginia’s 78 points (87.2%).
The Mountaineers shot 41 percent from the field, while making nine of their 26 attempted three-pointers. Texas Tech shot 36 percent from the field, going 6 for 23 from beyond the arc, and making 16 of their 17 free throws.
West Virginia moves on to face No. 1 Kansas tomorrow in the Big 12 Quarterfinals. The Mountaineers lost both matchups with Kansas, with the most recent loss coming at Allen Fieldhouse, with the Jayhawks winning 76-74 on Feb. 25.
“It’s going to be like another road game,” Eilert said. “We got to take the fight to them. If we can rebound it like we did today and we can share the ball, we’ll be just fine.”
Photo by Aaron Parker, Blue Gold Sports
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