MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — In the week since absorbing a 27-point beatdown at Texas, the program’s worst loss in 24 months, West Virginia’s players have recalculated and reassessed what made them a top-25 team.
“We’ve got to bring back that pride and that energy that we had,” said forward Devin Williams. “It’s a reality check.”
TCU (14-4, 1-4), after also being dealt some reality by Texas on Monday night, visits the No. 18 Mountaineers (15-3, 3-2) on Saturday afternoon. It’s the first sellout of the season in Morgantown thanks partly to a “Family Day” promotion that lumps four tickets, hot dogs and sodas into a $60 package.
West Virginia already beat TCU 78-67 in Fort Worth, a scheduling quirk of the Big 12 round-robin that has these teams completing their home-and-home series within a three-week span. Considering the Mountaineers took the first meeting with Juwan Staten too ill to dress, this rematch might seem elementary. But the sting from a 77-50 loss in Austin reminds the Mountaineers otherwise.
“Bouncing back from a loss shouldn’t be hard,” coach Bob Huggins said Friday. “We don’t have a lot of character if we don’t do that. And I think we do have character.”
The 24.1 percent shooting against the Longhorns’ 2-3 zone marked the worst game for West Virginia since making only 20 percent in a 62-39 loss to Cincinnati in 2008. (The 13 field goals were the lowest by WVU since 1951, two years before Huggins was born.) Surely more zone defense awaits the Mountaineers, whose 3-point accuracy ranks 294th out of 351 Division I teams.
TCU doesn’t possess the length that Texas does, yet it ranks fourth nationally in field-goal defense at 34.7 percent—just behind Kentucky, Virginia and, yes, Texas.
“I know we can’t underestimate them,” said freshman guard Jevon Carter. “We’ve got to play as hard as we do each and every other game.”
No. 18 West Virginia (15-3, 3-2) vs. TCU (14-4, 1-4)
Tipoff: 2 p.m. in Morgantown (ESPNU)
Scouting the Frogs: TCU snapped a 23-game conference losing streak by winning 62-42 at Texas Tech last Saturday. Some 48 hours later the Frogs fell 66-48 at home to Texas. … Point guard Kyan Anderson (13.4 points) is the lone double-digit scorer for TCU this season but produced just two points vs. Texas. The senior scored 19 in the first meeting vs. West Virginia. … Pitt transfer Trey Ziegler produced 17 points, six rebounds and four assists against the Mountaineers, but fouled out and committed a season-high four turnovers. … TCU commits 20.6 fouls per game, second only to WVU (22.3) in the Big 12. … The Frogs score 70.4 per game while West Virginia averages 77.4, but TCU is the second-most efficient offense in the conference and West Virginia ranks fourth. Both squads average 1.09 points per possession, tied for second in the league.
Coaching the Frogs: Trent Johnson (260-233 in 16 seasons overall, 34-47 in third year at TCU) is aiming to make the Frogs competitive, a difficult charge considering they are 3-40 in Big 12 play. That includes five losses to West Virginia. … Johnson previously reached a combined five NCAA tournaments at Nevada, Stanford and LSU.
Mountaineer musings: Juwan Staten (15 points, 4 assists, 3.1 rebounds) was among 25 players named to the Lute Olson Award midseason watch list this week. He’s in a 2-of-16 slump the past two games, which Huggins attributed to the point guard getting fewer shooting reps while dealing with sickness. “Now Chase Conner can walk in the gym after not being in there for three weeks and make shots,” the coach said. “Wannie doesn’t have great technique but what he has is a will to practice and practice and practice. I think he’ll be fine. It’s a long, long year.” … Jonathan Holton (9.6 points, 6.2 rebounds) hasn’t scored in double figures in six games. After fouling out in eight minutes against Texas, Holton’s 3.2 fouls per game are second in the Big 12 to K-State’s Nino Williams (3.5). … Devin Williams (10.7 points, 7.6 rebounds) is coming off a season-worst five turnovers at Texas—a performance in which he fouled out and snapped a string of four double-digit scoring games. … WVU has a healthy national lead in forced turnovers (22.1 per game) over runner-ups Eastern Kentucky (20.5) and Stephen F. Austin (18.6).
RPIs: West Virginia 21, TCU 152
Line: West Virginia favored by 9.5.
Prediction: West Virginia 70-56