Box Score KANSAS CITY – Kedrian Johnson scored 20 points and Erik Stevenson added 18 to lead West Virginia to a 78-62 victory over Texas Tech in the opening game of the Phillips 66 Big 12 Championships at T-Mobile Center in Kansas City.
 
West Virginia, the tournament's eighth-seeded team, got off to a slow start, trailing 9-2 with two turnovers in the game's first four minutes.
 
Tre Mitchell's 3 from the corner gave West Virginia its first field goal and consecutive 3s from Stevenson tied the game at 17. An Emmitt Matthews Jr. layup put WVU ahead for the first time, 19-17, and the Mountaineers built their advantage to 28-24 on two Stevenson baskets.
 
Three Stevenson free throws and then Johnson's three-point play put the Mountaineers ahead 38-27.
 
A Jimmy Bell Jr. basket and a Johnson 3 gave WVU its biggest lead of the first half, 43-30, before Texas Tech closed the half on a 5-0 run.
 
A quick second half start put the Mountaineers ahead 53-39, and after the Red Raiders went cold, missing nine of 10 at one point, West Virginia took its biggest lead of the game at 21, 67-46, with 6:49 remaining.
 
Coach Bob Huggins, hopeful of getting some of his key players a little rest ahead of tomorrow afternoon's game against top-seeded Kansas, led to a 12-3 Red Raider run making the score 70-58 and forcing Huggins to call timeout to put Stevenson and Kedrian Johnson back into the game.
 
Following the timeout, Stevenson found Tre Mitchell open for a layup and then Stevenson's 3 with 59 seconds left put an exclamation point on tonight's victory.
 
Mitchell contributed 17 points and Matthews Jr., who picked up his third foul with 16:03 left, sat for a good portion of the second half and finished with 13.
 
West Virginia made 27 of its 66 field goal attempts for 40.9%, connected on 9 of 26 from behind the arc for 34.6%, and converted 15 of 17 from the free throw line.
 
After a torrid start, Texas Tech shot just 23.3% in the second half and finished the game 20 of 55 for 36.4%.

Huggins pointed to West Virginia's 39 to 35 advantage on the glass as one of the keys to the game. In WVU's loss to Texas Tech in Morgantown, Red Raider center Fardaws Aimaq really hurt West Virginia on the glass.

"(Rebounding) is always big," he said. "Anytime you can get more possessions, be it an offensive rebound, be it a steal, be it forcing a turnover, the key is getting the ball back."
 
The Red Raiders (16-16) were playing tonight's game without head coach Mark Adams, who was suspended earlier this week. Assistant coach Corey Williams coached tonight's game for the Red Raiders.
 
Freshman guard Pop Isaacs led Tech with 15 while Kevin Obanor and De'Vion Harmon scored 14 each.
 
The Red Raiders committed 15 turnovers resulting in 16 West Virginia points.
 
Tonight's win was West Virginia's fourth in its last five games, boosting the Mountaineers' overall record to 19-13 and cementing its place in the NCAA Tournament. Huggins touched on his team's improved played down the stretch, which includes a two-point loss at Kansas 10 days ago.

"Well, our turnovers are down," he said. "We're rebounding the ball better and I think we know each other better now. I think we're making plays now that we couldn't make earlier because we thought they were going to zig and they zagged, you know? And I think now we understand a little better each other."
 
WVU moved off the "Last Four Byes" line on Joe Lunardi's bracket after its season-ending win against 12^th-ranked Kansas State and is now looking to improve its seeding.

"We have a lot of seniors and I think they know this is it," Huggins said. "They want to make a run, so they're trying to help the younger guys get better and certainly do the right things."
 
A win over third-ranked Kansas in tomorrow's quarterfinal game would certainly accomplish that. The contest will tip off at 3 p.m. ET.