The two giant, interlocking T’s on center court at United Supermarkets Arena didn’t just stand for “Texas Tech” on Wednesday night.
Lubbock, Texas was Technical Town, with the four technical fouls that were in the second half setting the tone for a disjointed final 20 minutes that the home team was able to take advantage of for an 89-81 win over No. 12 West Virginia.
In all, 54 fouls were called in the game — 28 against Texas Tech and 26 against the Mountaineers. The teams shot a combined 73 free throws.
Three of the technicals were whistled against West Virginia, and all were for apparent verbal violations rather than any sort of excessive physical contact. Oscar Tshiebwe, for instance, was T’d up for yelling what appeared to be “Get that out of here, man!” after blocking a Texas Tech shot into the third row.
That said, the extremely tight lid was more of a factor in creating an unenjoyable experience for viewers — the game lasted an interminable 2 hours, 34 minutes — than it was in the game’s outcome.
Even if the crew allowed unlimited trash talk and the occasional curse word to slip through, the Mountaineers had no answer for a Texas Tech offense that burned through the nets.
Three Texas Tech (13-7, 4-3 Big 12) players exceeded 20 points, led by 25 from guard Davide Moretti.
Forward Terrence Shannon, who missed the game in Morgantown with an illness, proved to be an invaluable addition to the lineup with 23 points and seven rebounds. Jahmi’us Ramsey, who was held to eight points at WVU Coliseum, exploded for 21 points powered by 5 of 8 shooting from long-range.
“They shot the ball extremely well. We did not,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said in his postgame radio interview. “We gave them step-in shots. We talked all week about how they have to shoot it off the bounce.”
The Red Raiders shot 54 percent from the field, including a season-best 11 of 17 from three-point range. Texas Tech was 225th nationally from beyond the arc coming into the game, hitting 32.1 percent of its attempts.
It was a freak three-point showing against a WVU defense that was second in the country defending the three. Indeed, no opponent had shot better than 65 percent from three-point range while making more than 10 threes against the Mountaineers since Rutgers in 2007.
It wasn’t a case of loose rims, either. West Virginia was a feeble 4-for-18 (22 percent) on its own three-point attempts.
For the Mountaineers, the most troubling statistic was the fact they were outperformed on the glass by an average rebounding team. Texas Tech out-rebounded WVU by a 32-23 margin. West Virginia won that battle 46-34 in the first meeting.
“We got out-rebounded by a team that should never out-rebound us,” Huggins said.
Surprisingly, West Virginia did most of its offensive damage at the free-throw line. The Mountaineers were 33 of 41 (80.5 percent) from the stripe, with belegured Derek Culver draining 14 of his 16 attempts. Culver was shooting just 57 percent at the line after an 0-for-6 showing against Missouri on Saturday.
Notes
Brandon Knapper was not on the sideline for the game, ruled out with an illness, according to WVU sports information. Knapper did not play against Texas and played only one minute against Mizzou… Culver led West Virginia with 16 points. Gabe Osabuohien added a career-high 15, while Taz Sherman continued to show growth with 11 points.
Next Up
The Mountaineers (16-4, 4-3 Big 12) return home to play Kansas State (9-11, 2-5) on Saturday at 2 p.m. The Wildcats, who beat West Virginia in Manhattan on Jan. 18, picked up their second conference win by beating Oklahoma 61-53 on Wednesday night.