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WVU's Seniors Go Out in Style
March 02, 2016 09:48 PM | Men's Basketball
Photo Gallery Final Stats
Tenth-ranked West Virginia shot 50 percent from the floor for the first since defeating Texas Tech back on January 23 in Lubbock, and 10 different players got into the scoring column as the Mountaineers rolled to a 90-68 victory over the Red Raiders on Senior Night at the WVU Coliseum for Jonathon Holton, Jaysean Paige and Richard Romeo III.
Paige scored 15 points in his final Coliseum appearance, Holton had seven points and 11 rebounds, and Romeo III, who has appeared in just eight heading into tonight’s game, was able to play the final 3:19 and scored a basket.
With the exception of Texas Tech’s early 2-0 lead, the Mountaineers led for almost the entire game and used a 17-4 run over the remaining 5:55 of the first half to build a 41-26 advantage at the break.
West Virginia’s biggest lead was 27 points late in the second half.
“I thought we played extremely hard and for a stretch in the first half and a stretch in the second half we ran pretty good offense,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We have our spells when we don’t, but I guess everybody does.”
All of the Mountaineers’ strengths as a basketball team showed up during tonight’s game. West Virginia out-rebounded the Red Raiders, 40-23, including 19 on the offensive glass, forced Texas Tech into turning the ball over 19 times and took 27 more shots than the Red Raiders.
“I thought our pressure was pretty good,” said Huggins. “That crew (Texas Tech) has played really well (of late) and I thought we really took them out of what they wanted to do.”
Daxter Miles Jr. scored 15 points, including five-of-10 from 3, Nathan Adrian contributed 13 points on six-of-eight shooting, and Tarik Phillip came off the bench to contribute 13.
West Virginia (23-7, 12-5) played some of its prettiest basketball of the season late in the first half by moving the ball around and locating its open shooters to the enjoyment of the 12,680 who showed up on a Wednesday night.
In fact, WVU played so efficiently tonight that it didn’t need second-leading scorer Devin Williams' 13 points per game. The junior did not start for the first time this season, and he didn’t score until 47 seconds left in the game.
“We need Devin Williams,” said Huggins. “I don’t want to play without Devin Williams. He may get fouled more than anyone in America. He’s so strong and people bounce off of him and we sometimes say, ‘why didn’t he finish more?’ Well, it’s hard to finish when you get that much contact.”
Tonight’s victory assures WVU of at least a No. 3 seed in next week’s Phillips 66 Big 12 Championship in Kansas City. The Mountaineers can finish second with a victory Saturday afternoon at Baylor.
West Virginia’s 12 regular season league victories are its most since joining the Big 12 four years ago in 2012.
“We need to end up strong on Saturday and finish second by ourselves,” said Huggins. “We need to get 13 to get sole possession of second place and get the No. 2 seed in the tournament.”
Justin Gray led Texas Tech, now 18-11, 8-9, with 15 points.
Texas Tech concludes its regular season on Saturday in Lubbock against Kansas State.
There is a good possibility West Virginia and Texas Tech could meet again in the Big 12 tournament next Thursday night. The Red Raiders will likely be pared against TCU in an opening-night game on Wednesday needing a win to improve their NCAA tournament credentials.
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