MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — West Virginia insists it knows what’s gone wrong in the late stages of January.
That hasn’t helped the Mountaineers rectify their issues, and plenty arose throughout the first half Wednesday night as No. 6 Houston picked apart West Virginia on one end and shut them down on the other to play from in front throughout a 63-49 victory.
“The first half felt like our last two games,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “We haven’t played with the same spirit that we played with prior to that. The second half, if we’ll get back to that and do it for a full 40 minutes, we’ll be right where we need to be down the stretch.”
In their first visit to the WVU Coliseum, the Cougars (17-3, 9-0) prolonged their unbeaten start to Big 12 play, earned a 13th consecutive victory and secured a regular season sweep of the Mountaineers.
A pair of three-pointers from guard L.J. Cryer sparked a strong start for UH that amounted to an 8-0 lead.
Another triple moments later from guard Emanuel Sharp made it 13-3, and the Cougars went to the first media timeout with a 15-7 advantage.
It was the second straight game the Mountaineers (13-7, 4-5) faced a significant deficit at the first media timeout as they trailed 12-2 in Saturday’s loss at Kansas State at that point.
“We have to bring it. It’s on us at the end of the day,” WVU guard Joseph Yesufu said. “We have to figure out how to get off to the best start we can.”
Things hardly got better throughout the opening half, and when Houston’s Milos Uzan made his team’s fourth three, it left the Cougars on top 22-7 with 10:48 to play in the half.
WVU trailed 24-13 following a Jonathan Powell trey, but starting with a J’Wan Roberts layup in response, the Cougars outscored the home team 15-6 over the final 6:31 of the half.
That stretch featured seven straight Houston points on a Joseph Tugler dunk, Terrance Arceneaux triple and Uzan layup, leaving the visitors with a 34-15 advantage.
UH settled for a 39-19 halftime lead and went to the intermission shooting 50 percent on 30 field-goal attempts and with an 18-10 rebounding edge that helped create a 7-1 edge on second-chance points.
The Mountaineers, meanwhile, were shooting 8 for 22 at halftime and their field goal output matched their turnovers.
“It’s hard to really crack them,” DeVries said, ”and not many teams have.”
But West Virginia was recharged to start the second half, which it began with 11 consecutive points to pull to within nine, marking the first time the margin was less than 10 since the first media timeout.
Amani Hansberry and Toby Okani each scored four points during the surge to start the half, while Jonathan Powell mixed in a three.
“They were not in the fight the first half. We were not in the fight the first 7 or 8 minutes of the second half,” Cougars’ head coach Kelvin Sampson said.
The defensive play of Sencire Harris was a major spark for the Mountaineers, who trailed 43-37 after Harris stole the ball from Mylik Wilson and scored in transition with 13:39 remaining.
“When he’s really hooked up and into the ball, he’s as good as there is anywhere in the country and that changed the game around to start the second half,” DeVries said. “We flip-flopped the matchups because we had him on Cryer and felt to change the attitude and pace of the game we needed Buck on the ball.”
Harris split two free throws with 8:46 remaining to bring WVU to within five at 47-42, but the defensive-minded guard was whistled for separate fouls — his third and fourth of the game — within 11 seconds, forcing him to the bench at the 8:26 mark.
Less than 1 minute earlier, WVU’s top scorer Javon Small had exited with an apparent knee injury, though he would return a few minutes later.
Trailing 49-44 after Hansberry scored from close range, the Mountaineers had a chance to make it a one-possession game when Powell stepped to the free-throw line out of a timeout with 6:59 left. But the freshman missed the front end, and on Houston’s ensuing possession, Cryer was credited with a conventional three-point play on a bucket he was awarded as a result of goaltending.
“It took a lot out of them to go from down 20 to cut it to five,” Sampson said. “We needed somebody to step up and make a play.”
Hansberry’s layup with 6:24 remaining made it a six-point margin, but Tugler countered with a dunk, and Uzan’s three with 4:32 left made it 57-46.
WVU hurt its cause by missing 5-of-9 free throws after halftime, including all three front ends in 1-and-1 situations.
“Those are tough. You’re right there and need to get it to a one-possession game and then it seemed like they’d go get an offensive rebound and three on the other end,” DeVries said. “They’ve won a lot of games like this. They’re so resilient and tough that you can’t afford to not capitalize on chances.”
The Mountaineers made 12-of-21 second-half field-goal attempts to finish a plenty respectable 20 for 43 against the nation’s top defensive team.
However, West Virginia made only 4-of-18 threes and is 12 for 68 from long distance over its last three games.
Yesufu led WVU with nine points. Hansberry, Small and Okani added eight apiece in defeat.
Okani recorded five of his team’s 11 assists.
“Toby really did some good things in the second half,” DeVries said.
Cryer led all players with 17 points. Tugler added 12 with seven rebounds and Uzan scored 10.
Houston shot 25 for 52 and had a 34-19 rebounding advantage, including 13-5 on the offensive end for a 16-3 edge on second-chance points.
“I’m proud of the fact that we held this team to 49 points and won by 14,” Sampson said. “It didn’t feel that way.”
West Virginia will enter Sunday’s 2 p.m. matchup at Cincinnati on a three-game skid.