Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – We could hear those Texas Tech boos all the way in Morgantown, West Virginia.
 
Fourteenth-ranked West Virginia got a career-high 26 points from emergency replacement Sean McNeil to defeat the seventh-ranked Red Raiders 82-71 at United Supermarkets Arena in Lubbock, Texas, Tuesday night.
 
Red Raider coach Chris Beard lost it with 23 seconds left and his team trailing 77-71 by arguing Kevin McCullar's foul on West Virginia's Deuce McBride. Beard thought McBride called timeout before McCullar fouled him, and got back-to-back technical fouls complaining about it.
 
Before Beard exited the floor, he walked over to West Virginia's bench and gave Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins a fist bump before jogging off the court to a standing ovation.
 
As a result, West Virginia was awarded six free throws, two on the foul to McBride and four for the Beard technicals, and it cashed in on five of those to provide its winning margin. It was West Virginia's first road win over a Top-10 ranked opponent  since defeating No. 6 Virginia in Charlottesville in 2016.
 
"This is always a difficult place to play and we knew it was going to be a rough one and it was," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, now five wins shy of 900 for his career, said afterward. Huggins also collected his 22^nd win at WVU against Top 10-ranked teams.
 
The streaking Mountaineers, now 14-5, 7-3, only trailed for 1:42 of tonight's game despite being without its third-leading scorer Taz Sherman, who was a late scratch because of a groin injury suffered in practice.
 
WVU also played a large portion of the first half without McBride when he picked up a couple of quick early fouls, and then Derek Culver for a good chunk of the second half when he drew his fourth foul with 14:59 to go. 
 
The junior forward didn't return to the floor until 5:04 remaining and West Virginia leading 65-63.
 
Texas Tech's leading scorer Mac McClung saw his night end when he drew his fifth personal with 1:03 left and the Red Raiders trailing by six.
 
A total of 49 fouls were called on both teams, resulting in 59 free throws.
 
McNeil was terrific, hitting eight-of-11 overall including five-of-seven from 3. His biggest triple of the night came with 4:05 left and West Virginia leading by only two. The shot clock was at two when he let a contested 3 go from right in front of West Virginia's bench.
 
"I think he was just happy to get the opportunity to be in the starting lineup and he knew what the situations was," Huggins said. "He shot the ball really, really well and he guarded. It's one thing to make some shots and your man makes more, but he did a great job of guarding tonight for us as well."
 
McBride won his head-to-head matchup against McClung, outscoring his counterpart 20-to-17. Most of McBride's 20 came in the second half as he finished six-of-12 from the floor and seven-of-eight from the free throw line.
 
Culver chipped in with 15 points and eight rebounds in just 25 minutes of action.
 
Jordan McCabe gave West Virginia a big lift in the first half when the Mountaineers led 40-34 at the break.
 
"I thought Jordan did a really good job for us – he ran the team for us and made some shots for us, which was critical," Huggins said. 
 
As it did the first time West Virginia defeated Texas Tech in Morgantown 15 days ago, the Mountaineers shot 50% from 3-point distance (seven of 14).
 
Another area where the Mountaineers took advantage of the Red Raiders was at the free throw line where they made 29 to Texas Tech's 14.
 
Gabe Osabuohien, a 38.5% free throw shooter entering tonight's game, made five-of-eight, while Culver continued his improved free throw shooting by going seven-of-nine. Culver is now shooting 61.2% from the charity stripe this season.
 
Terrance Shannon contributed 13 for Texas Tech, which drops to 14-6, 6-5.
 
"We were ready to play," Huggins said. "I thought defensively we did a really good job. We switched defenses a little bit on them, which I think bothered them some. I think it was a combination of a lot of things, but it was a lot of guys stepping up.
 
"I couldn't be happier with our guys as hard as they played and the way they hung in there," Huggins added.
 
Tonight's victory snapped a five-game losing streak to the Red Raiders in Lubbock, and was the Mountaineers' first victory there since 2016 when Tubby Smith was still coaching the team.
 
WVU also creates a little space from third-place Oklahoma in the Big 12 standings with a big matchup with the Sooners looming in Morgantown on Saturday afternoon.
 
Oklahoma got West Virginia 75-71 in Norman earlier this season.
 
An increased capacity of 2,800 spectators will be permitted to attend Saturday's game, which will tip off at 1 p.m.