Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 11 West Virginia rallied from eight points down in the first half to defeat feisty North Texas 62-50 in its home opener at the WVU Coliseum Friday afternoon.
 
The Mean Green (1-3) agreed to play the game on short notice when Robert Morris was unable to play Wednesday's game because of COVID-19 issues within the Colonial program.
 
North Texas was clearly an upgrade based on the way it played today.
 
Last year's regular-season Conference USA champs had the Mountaineers down by 10 with nine seconds to go in the first half before a late Deuce McBride layup trimmed the deficit to eight at the break. 
 
"We were less than ready to play, obviously," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. 
 
For most of the first half, West Virginia (5-1) couldn't buy a basket and allowed the Mean Green to score layup after layup late in the first half. 
 
Huggins didn't bring his team back out onto the floor until two minutes were left until the start of the second half.
 
Whatever he told them at halftime they listened.
 
"I was so frustrated with our bigs at the start of the game," Huggins said. "I mean they were just walking around. It was embarrassing."
 
WVU used an 18-0 run to begin the second half and never trailed the rest of the way. North Texas was held without a field goal for the first seven minutes as WVU built a 13-point lead, but the Mean Green went on a mini-run with five minutes to go to cut the Mountaineers' lead to 49-45.
 
A McBride pull-up jumper with 4:18 to go stopped the run.
 
Two Taz Sherman free throws with 43 seconds left got the lead back to 10.
 
Sean McNeil, coming into today's game shooting 27.3%, made 5-of-9 today for a team-high 15 points, which was encouraging.
 
"He can shoot it," Huggins said. "He struggled a little bit because he gets down on himself so easily when he misses. Fortunately he came out and made his first couple, which really helps."
 
Derek Culver had his 19^th career double-double with 10 points and 10 rebounds. All 10 of Culver's points came in the second half.
 
"Honestly, the turnaround was putting (Culver) back into the game and him actually wanting to play in the second half," Huggins said. "We threw the ball to him and he scored.
 
"They can't guard him and now it's two-on-one and three-on-one in the post," Huggins said. "We need to be able to do more than just throw the ball to him when we're in trouble."
 
Sherman came off the bench to score 13.
 
"I thought Taz was really good. I think he gives us somebody really solid and somebody who can make an open shot," Huggins said. "And Gabe (Osabuohien) defensively was outstanding."
 
Huggins' hope coming into today's game was to go deep into his bench and give some of his younger players more playing time, but North Texas simply would not cooperate.
 
Guard Javion Hamlet led North Texas with 15 points.
 
Forward Thomas Bell added 12.
 
West Virginia shot just 37.7% from the floor while North Texas shot worse at 34.5%.
 
The Mountaineers out-rebounded the Mean Green 48-32.
 
North Texas' three losses this year have come against the SEC's Arkansas and Mississippi State , and the Big 12's West Virginia.
 
WVU has a quick turnaround with 19^th-ranked Richmond looming on Sunday. The Spiders, an old Southern Conference rival, will be making their first trip to Morgantown since 1976 when Huggins was a Mountaineer player.
 
Richmond boosted its record to 4-0 with a 78-68 win over Northern Iowa earlier this week. The Spiders also count a 76-64 win at Kentucky, which got them into the Top 25.
 
Sunday's game will tip off at 1 p.m. and will be televised nationally on ESPN.