Through 14 minutes of Wednesday’s game between WVU and TCU at Schollmaier Arena, the Mountaineers appeared to be well on their way to collecting their fourth Big 12 road victory of the season. However, the Horned Frogs rallied back from a 12-point deficit and secured the game with a 7-0 run in the final minute to defeat West Virginia, 65-60.
Vasean Allette’s driving layup as he was fouled led to the decisive three-point play with 1:02 to go, giving the Frogs a 61-58 lead. On TCU’s next possession, Allette rebounded a miss and put it back for a layup with 9.5 seconds left to effectively put the game out of reach.
“The biggest thing I told the guys is that in the first half, they shot 35 percent. In the second half, they shoot 50. That’s the game. That’s us,” said WVU head coach Darian DeVries on WVU’s MSN radio postgame show.
“We have to defend. When we got down by eleven, we cranked it back up again and we crawled back into a tie game. But you put yourself in that position and it comes down to who can make the most plays in the final few minutes. They did.”
West Virginia jumped out to 10-2 lead less than five minutes into the game by scoring ten consecutive points. The Mountaineers would later extend the lead to a dozen at 25-13 with six minutes left in the first half thanks to a dunk from Toby Okani.
That lead nearly evaporated by halftime. TCU closed the first half on a 9-2 run, trimming the WVU cushion to just a single point at intermission, 29-28.
“I thought we started the game off defensively, we were terrific for the first 15 minutes and we had a ten-point lead. In our [under] four-minute timeout, we went into the timeout, ‘Guys, you worked your tails off these first 15 minutes. These last four, we have to finish this. Don’t let them crawl back into it’. We had some silly turnovers, gave up a few easy buckets. And now you are up one at half instead of 10, 12, 13.”
The Horned Frogs scored the first seven points in the second half as they went on a 22-4 run in between the halves. Minutes later, TCU would build their largest advantage of the game at 54-43. The Frogs scored baskets on dunks on consecutive possessions from David Punch, Ernest Udeh, Jr. and Allette.
West Virginia would need just over three minutes of game time to erase the deficit. Javon Small scored eight consecutive points in a 13-2 WVU run. With 3:50 left, a three-pointer from Jonathan Powell evened the score at 56.
After a pair of TCU free throws, Small collected a steal at midcourt and he converted a fast break layup to bring WVU even at 58 with 1:16 left.
TCU went 20-for-23 from the free throw line. WVU made just two of their five attempts at the charity stripe. The Mountaineers were outrebounded, 34-26. West Virginia went 8-for-30 from beyond the three-point line.
Allette led TCU with 22 points and 11 rebounds. Noah Reynolds added 20 points for the Horned Frogs (12-10, 5-6 Big 12).
Small led West Virginia with 20 points (8-19 FG) and seven assists. Joseph Yesefu added 11 points and Eduardo Andre chipped in with ten points as he made all five of his attempts from the floor. Small and Yesefu combined to go 7-for-18 from three-point range. However, the rest of the Mountaineers combined to go 1-for-12 from the perimeter.
“From a coaches’ standpoint, We’ve got to get those problem areas when they arise within the game, and get those fixed as quick as possible. This group can do it. They have done it all year. Like always, you have to do it for a full 40. We’re really close at times. And there’s also those lapses. We’re not a team that can afford very long stretches where our defense isn’t good. It is harder to keep up.”
TCU head coach Jaime Dixon collected his 500th career victory.
WVU has lost four out of their last five games. The Mountaineers (14-8, 5-6 Big 12) will return home for a pair of games. West Virginia will host Utah on Saturday and BYU on Tuesday.