Box Score MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – No. 10 West Virginia nearly led TCU throughout in registering a 74-66 victory over the Horned Frogs Tuesday night at Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas.
 
Lonestar State native Taz Sherman came off the bench to score a game-high 23 points to lead the Mountaineers to their sixth straight Big 12 road victory, and their ninth overall.
 
Tonight's win also snapped TCU's three-game home winning streak against WVU at Schollmaier, dating back to 2017.
 
"It was a very, very physical game," West Virginia coach Bob Huggins, now three wins shy of 900 for his coaching career, said afterward. "I think that was their plan to make it physical and we just didn't do a very good job of running offense."
 
Forward Derek Culver did most of his scoring in a first half that saw the Mountaineers take a 37-31 lead into the locker room at the break.
 
Culver tallied 15 of his 18 points in the first half and also ended up with 14 rebounds – his Big 12-leading 11^th of the season. It appeared Culver was headed for another big offensive night until he stumbled from the free throw line in the second half, connecting on six of 14 overall. 
 
There were instances when it appeared TCU was purposely trying to foul Culver and Gabe Osabuohien and put them on the line to try and create extra offensive possessions.
 
WVU missed 14 free throws, including four straight during one stretch late in the game when it was trying to protect a 10-point lead.
 
McBride, who finished with 11 points, ended West Virginia's long field goal drought when he got one to go down with 1:03 left to put the Mountaineers ahead 73-61.
 
Backup Jordan McCabe also ended a long scoreless drought with about eight minutes left to put WVU back ahead by double digits.
 
Freshman forward Jalen Bridges continues to display his growth and development by contributing nine points on four-of-four shooting, seven of those coming in a late first-half flurry to give WVU its six-point halftime advantage.
 
He was averaging eight points and six rebounds over his last four games.
 
"I think the state of West Virginia needs to be really, really proud of one of its own – not only is he becoming a very good Big 12 player, but he is one class human being," Huggins said of Bridges.
 
West Virginia's biggest lead was 16 with 11:15 left when Sherman converted a four-point play.
 
R.J. Nebhard led TCU, now 11-10, 4-8, with 17 points. Kevin Samuel added 11 points and 10 rebounds.
 
"We went point-drop at the end again and I think that slowed them down a little bit, or at least we were able to catch them when they drove by the first defender," Huggins said.
 
The victory puts West Virginia, 16-6 overall, at 9-4 in Big 12 play with four regular season games remaining – all at home.
 
The Big 12 announced earlier today its revamped conference slate for the remainder of the regular season. WVU's game at No. 2 Baylor scheduled for Thursday has been canceled. 
 
"We've got a long stretch here in the league which could put us in pretty good shape in the league in terms of what that's going to do for our seeding for the league tournament as well as the NCAA Tournament," Huggins said. "And we've certainly got to get better if we want to make a long run in the NCAA Tournament."
 
Huggins added, "I think we need a little time off to get our legs back before we have to make this run to end the season."
 
The Mountaineers will now return to Morgantown tonight to prepare for Saturday's game against Kansas State.
 
The remaining three regular season games will also be at the Coliseum against Baylor Tuesday, night, against TCU next Thursday night and then Oklahoma State on Saturday to conclude the regular season.