MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — By the time Texas wrapped up a far-too-easy 80-69 win at the WVU Coliseum, Mountaineers point guard Juwan Staten rattled off his team’s long list of failures.
“We couldn’t make shots, we couldn’t guard, we couldn’t do anything right tonight,” he said.
In that particular sentence Staten didn’t mention rebounding, but there were other sentences about West Virginia’s inability to keep Texas off the glass, where the long and tall Horns dominated 49-30.
“They have a big team, a lot of wide bodies in there. They carve out a lot of space,” said Staten, who had been one of top rebounding guards in the nation yet grabbed only half his average. “I was getting six rebounds a game, but I couldn’t grab one today because every time I went to get one someone was knocking me off my path.”
While Staten made his typically broad impact—scoring 23 points, dishing five assists and losing only one turnover—he didn’t have much help. He made 9-of-14 shots from the floor, but the rest of his entourage combined to sink only 17-of-55.
“I’m not going to get down on my teammates. I’m the leader of the team, and I take a lot of responsibility for that,” he said. “I feel like there might be something I can do a lot better to help my team.”