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WVU to Meet Surprising TCU Tonight
March 10, 2016 10:27 AM | Men's Basketball
KANSAS CITY - West Virginia is facing TCU tonight in the third quarterfinal round game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 championship, taking place at the Sprint Center in Kansas City.
The Horned Frogs (12-20) upset seventh-seeded Texas Tech last night, TCU overcoming an early seven-point deficit in the first half to knock off the Red Raiders. Guard Chauncey Collins led TCU with 19 points, while backcourt mate Brandon Parrish contributed 15.
The scored was tied 10 times and there were 11 lead changes before things turned in TCU’s favor late.
After Texas Tech tied the game at 58 on Zach Smith’s jumper with 1:19 remaining, TCU got back-to-back baskets from Vlad Brodziansky and Malik Trent, and then four critical free throws from Collins down the stretch to pull off the upset.
Collins performed well in both games against West Virginia this season, the Oklahoma City resident scoring 20 points in a 31-point loss in Morgantown back on February 13 and scoring 20 in an eight-point defeat in Fort Worth on January 4.
TCU turned the ball over 18 times the first time these two teams met, and then had 26 turnovers while shooting just 33.3 percent from the floor in the second meeting a month ago.
West Virginia also struggled to make shots against the Horned Frogs, successfully converting only 37.5 percent of its field goal attempts for the game, but a mid-first-half flurry gave the Mountaineers a comfortable margin at halftime.
Two other key stats in West Virginia’s favor against TCU were rebounds (plus-15) and steals (15).
The Mountaineers (24-7) are seeking their first win in Big 12 tournament play, West Virginia falling by two to Texas Tech in an opening-round game in 2013, losing by 17 two years ago to Texas in the quarterfinals and then dropping a 10-point decision to Baylor last year in the quarterfinals.
Senior forward Jonathan Holton, who missed part of the second half of last Saturday’s win at Baylor with a sprained ankle, had no issues at practice Wednesday and looked good moving around during West Virginia’s shoot around at the Sprint Center yesterday afternoon.
Holton is the team’s second-leading rebounder with an average of 7.8 boards per game.
Forward Jonathan Holton
Guard Tarik Phillip
Coach Bob Huggins
The Mountaineers have two double-figure scorers heading into postseason play – senior guard Jaysean Paige (14.3 ppg.) and junior forward Devin Williams (12.7 ppg.).
However, four players are averaging better than nine points per game, including sophomore guard Daxter Miles Jr. (9.9 ppg.), junior guard Tarik Phillip (9.5 ppg.), Holton (9.4 ppg.) and sophomore guard Jevon Carter (9.2 ppg.).
Tonight’s game will tip off at 7 p.m. ET and will be televised nationally on ESPNU. The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG’s coverage on stations throughout West Virginia and online via leanStream and the mobile app TuneIn will begin at 6 p.m.
Other games today included fourth-seeded Texas facing No. 5-seed Baylor at 12:30 p.m. ET, and then top-seeded Kansas playing No. 8-seeded Kansas State approximately 30 minutes afterward.
Both games will be televised on ESPN2.
Tonight’s other game will pit No. 3-seeded Oklahoma against No. 6-seed Iowa State in a battle of two nationally ranked teams.
College Basketball Crown Recap
Thursday, April 16
Ross Hodge, Honor Huff & Brenen Lorient | Oklahoma Postgame
Sunday, April 05
Ross Hodge, Treysen Eaglestaff & Brenen Lorient | Creighton Postgame
Saturday, April 04
Ross Hodge & Honor Huff | Stanford Postgame
Thursday, April 02
