Saturday, January 20
Morgantown, W.Va.
2:00 p.m.
West Virginia University
vs
Texas
Mountaineers Looking to End Two-Game Skid Saturday
January 19, 2018 02:58 PM | Men's Basketball
| Team Stats |  |
 |
|---|---|---|
| Points Per Game | 73.1 | 81.2 |
| Points Against | 65.4 | 65.7 |
| Field Goal % | 44.9 | 42.9 |
| Rebounds Per Game | 37.6 | 39.6 |
| Assists Per Game | 12.6 | 16.4 |
| Blocks Per Game | 6.5 | 5.5 |
| Steals Per Game | 6.3 | 10.2 |
| Streak | W1 | L2 |
Such is the life in the Big 12 these days.
On Saturday, it's 12-6 Texas, coming off one of its best performances of the season on Wednesday night, a 67-58 win over eighth-ranked Texas Tech, 67-58.
Guard Kerwin Roach II returned to the court to score 20 off the bench to lead the Longhorns to their third conference victory of the season. Roach missed Texas' two prior games because of a left-hand fracture, one of those a one-point loss at Oklahoma State and the other a thrilling overtime victory against TCU.
"He gives them another scorer," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. "He shot the ball really well against Texas Tech, and when he's out there, they are able to spread you a little more."
Texas played just seven guys against the Horned Frogs and got 22 off the bench from guard Eric Davis Jr. and 20 from 6-foot-9-inch junior forward Dylan Osetkowski, the team's leading scorer at 14.9 points per game.
"He probably does more things than anybody on their team," Huggins said. "They run offense through him because he can pass. He relieves pressure because his ball security is good."
The Longhorns' best player is 6-foot-11 freshman forward Mohamed Bamba, a 2017 McDonald's All-American who's averaging 11.9 points, 10.5 rebounds and 4.5 blocks per game.
Bamba has really emerged in the last month or so, recording his eighth double-double of the year against Texas Tech (15 points and 11 rebounds) and averaging 14.3 points and 11.6 rebounds over his last seven games with five double-doubles.
Bamba has registered at least four blocks in 15 of the first 17 games of his college career and will provide an intriguing matchup for West Virginia's Sagaba Konate, who made five impressive blocks against Kansas on Monday night and is also blossoming at this point in the season.
Konate is averaging 9.3 points, 7.9 rebounds and 3.1 blocks per game for the year, but since Big 12 play began three weeks ago, those averages have increased to 11.3 points, 10 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per contest.
Konate gives up three inches in height to Bamba but does boast a 35-pound weight advantage.
"They watch TV, so they know (how good Bamba is)," Huggins said.
Neither team has shot the ball particularly well this season, although Texas' 44.9 percent is slightly better than West Virginia's 42.9.
The Mountaineers (15-3, 4-2) have struggled from the floor in their last two games against Texas Tech and Kansas, shooting 39 percent in Lubbock last Saturday and connecting on just 40.3 percent of their field goal attempts in Monday night's loss to Kansas.
"We haven't scored the ball, and we've played bad sometimes and still scored 85; we're not scoring the way we need to score it," Huggins said. "We're just not making shots."
West Virginia's top four outside shooters Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles Jr., Lamont West and James Bolden were a combined 11-of-38 against the Jayhawks for 28.9 percent.
Consequently, most of the offense came from Konate close to the basket where he made seven-of-10 and finished with 16 points.
Huggins indicated Friday afternoon that freshman Teddy Allen will once again likely not see action tomorrow against the Longhorns. Allen scored 57 points in West Virginia's Big 12 wins over Oklahoma State, Kansas State and Oklahoma, but failed to score against Baylor and Texas Tech and didn't play against Kansas Monday night.
"Like most 18, 19-year-olds that have had some success he doesn't know how to handle it yet," Huggins said. "That's the root of the problem. He's not a problem off the floor. We don't have problems off the floor.
"I was sitting here the other day thinking those guys I had at Cincinnati that were in trouble all the time were pretty damned good. It might have been worth it," he joked.
West Virginia is in the midst of its first two-game losing streak since Jan. 18-21 of last year when the Mountaineers dropped games to Oklahoma and Kansas State before ending the skid against No. 2 Kansas, 85-69, at the Coliseum three days later.
Texas has not been a willing foe in the past, however, winning here in 2014 and 2016. Although, West Virginia claimed all three games last year, including a 63-53 victory in the Big 12 Tournament.
The Longhorns own an 8-7 advantage in the series, which dates back to 1973.
A 2 p.m. tip off has been established for the game, to be televised nationally on CBS (Kevin Harlan and Jim Spanarkel). The Mountaineer Sports Network from IMG's coverage begins at 1 p.m. on stations throughout West Virginia and online via WVUsports.com and the mobile app TuneIn.
Pregame Notes: Huggins was asked before Friday's practice about players today encountering emotional fatigue, considering the number of quick Saturday-Monday turnarounds for national television. "If you are emotionally fatigued in this league then you're going to struggle," he said. "When we were in the Big East, we had some younger (coaches) complaining that they weren't getting some Big Mondays and (Notre Dame coach) Mike Brey said, 'You can have all mine,'" Huggins said. "I'm sitting here thinking, 'should I want Monday games or do I not want Monday games? We're on TV so much now anyway. I don't think Big Monday is what it once was'" … West Virginia has won 12 of its last 18 and 23 of its last 33 games televised on CBS … Jevon Carter is the only player in the country averaging more than 16 points, six assists and three steals per game … West Virginia has shot better than 50 percent from the floor just once since Big 12 play began, that coming at Kansas State (53.6 percent) back on Jan. 1 … Texas is the ninth-best shot blocking team in the country swatting 6.1 per game … The Longhorns start three players taller than 6-9 and also bring two players off the bench 6-8 or taller … Despite its size, Texas has been outscored in the paint five times so far this year and have only outscored its opposition by eight points in the paint in Big 12 play … Bamba is one of four Texas recruits to rank among the top two prospects in the country, the others being Myles Turner (No. 2, 2014), Avery Bradley (No. 1, 2009) and Kevin Durant (No. 2, 2006) … Jase Febres, a 6-5 freshman guard, started the Texas Tech game, but Roach is expected to be back in the starting lineup for Saturday's game against WVU … The Mountaineers have averaged 13,267 fans over their last three home dates and are expecting another capacity crowd on Saturday against the Longhorns … The first 10,000 fans into the arena will be handed gold pom-poms as part of Gold Rush.
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/ Men's BasketballTV Highlights: WVU 80, Wheeling 54
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Ross Hodge | Wheeling Postgame
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Harlan Obioha & Brenen Lorient | Wheeling Postgame
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