After losing to BYU 86-73 at home last Saturday and having a week off from game action, the West Virginia men’s basketball team travels to Texas Saturday to take on the Longhorns.
WVU defeated Texas at home when the Longhorns were formerly ranked No. 25 on Jan. 13, 76-73, however, the Mountaineers have still not won a game on the road or at a neutral site with a record of 0-8.
“Taking on the Longhorns again and I know it’s going to be a challenge and I know they’ll be ready for us,” West Virginia interim head coach Josh Eilert said on Thursday.
Texas shot better from the field than West Virginia in their matchup in January but committed 22 turnovers compared to the Mountaineers’ 16. Since their loss to WVU, Texas has a record of 3-4, with three wins and three losses against ranked opponents, while WVU is 2-4 in that same span.
“We certainly have to be way better offensively,” Eilert said when asked about what he took away from their first matchup with Texas.
“We changed some things defensively going into that game and our game plan was pretty solid and we executed that fairly well. And we rebounded the ball well but our offense was very stagnant we took bad shots.”
WVU out-rebounded the Longhorns 32-31 in that game and shot 21-47 from the field, but shot slightly better from three than the Longhorns, 41.2% (7-17) compared to 40.9% (9-22).
On the season, Texas is averaging 76.1 points per game and allowing 68.2 ppg. They’re shooting 47.8% from the field and 37.2% from three.
The Longhorns’ leading scorer is Max Abmas, who scored 32 points in the first meeting, averaging 17.7 ppg.
Abmas will provide a tough task for the Mountaineers, who have struggled defensively of late as he looks to recreate the success he had in Morgantown at home.
West Virginia is 10-15 against Texas since joining the Big 12 and 11-17 all-time.
ESPN Analytics’ Matchup Predictor gives the Longhorns a 93.6% chance of defeating the Longhorns on Saturday.
Tipoff is set for 3:00 p.m. EST with the game being broadcasted to the Longhorns Sports Network.
