KANSAS CITY — A three-point followup to West Virginia’s 86-66 win over TCU in the Big 12 tournament quarterfinals Thursday night:
— Not overlooking TCU: Several Mountaineers admitted to anticipating a third game against Texas Tech rather than the Frogs. Not that there was a letdown.
“No, the motivation is getting a Big 12 championship,” said Devin Williams. “The motivation is being picked sixth. The motivation is to be second in conference and still getting a third (NCAA) seed. It’s a lot of motivation. For me the motivation is how can everybody else be playing on ESPN and they put us on ESPNU?”
— Welcome back, Carter: A couple weeks ago coaches noticed Jevon Carter’s elbow was chicken-winging on his jumper. “My elbow was out a lot so the ball was going all types of places,” he said.
In an 8-for-53 slump that sent his 3-point rate plummeting to 28 percent, Carter sank two 3s in the first 2:09 against TCU. He wound up 3-of-5 from deep and scored 15 points, his highest output since Jan. 9.
“I kept my elbow in,” he said.
Teammates on the bench erupted as Carter rediscovered confidence on the perimeter.
“J.C’s been in the gym hard,” said Jaysean Paige, “trying got get his shot back fluid. It’s paying off.”
— Zone-busting: Against TCU’s zone defense, Carter had company with the 3-balls. Tarik Phillip knocked down 3-of-6. Daxter Miles went 2-of-5. Nathan Adrian sank his lone attempt and Paige hit back-to-back 3s after TCU cut the deficit to eight.
West Virginia shot 32 percent from 3 during the regular season, which ranked ninth in the Big 12, but made 11-of-24 for 45 percent Thursday.
“They really shot the living heck out of it,” said Frogs coach Trent Johnson. “We made a decision going into this thing that we would have to play predominantly zone. Obviously, with our limited bodies, we couldn’t chase them around in man.”