West Virginia overcomes big deficit to beat Texas
Bob Huggins didn’t divulge exactly how he lit into his West Virginia team at halftime when it trailed Texas by 10 points.
“You wouldn’t want to print what was said,” the Mountaineers coach said.
The message registered. Sean McNeil and No. 13 West Virginia erased a 19-point deficit in the second half, then withstood a flurry of last-second misses to hold off No. 12 Texas 84-82 on Saturday in Austin, Texas.
“We were about as bad as we could be in the first half,” Huggins said. “This group will step up and try to meet the challenge.”
McNeil played only two minutes in the first half after picking up two fouls, and scored all 16 of his points after the break. He also committed two turnovers in the final 11 seconds, giving Texas a chance.
With Texas down by two, the Longhorns’ Matt Coleman III missed the front end of a one-and-one free-throw situation with eight seconds left. The Longhorns got the ball back, but Andrew Jones’ three-point attempt rimmed out with four seconds left — he had made a three-pointer with 1.8 seconds left to beat West Virginia 72-70 on Jan. 9.
Texas had one last try, with three-tenths of a second left, on an inbounds pass after Jones missed. But Jericho Sims missed inside after taking a lob pass from Coleman.
“We had things rolling the first 25 minutes, and we let it go,” Coleman said.
Miles McBride scored 17 for West Virginia (15-6, 8-4 Big 12), which was down 6243 early in the second half. Taz Sherman, Emmitt Matthews Jr. and Derek Culver scored 14 apiece.
Courtney Ramey scored a career-best 28 points for Texas, including a careerhigh
seven three-point baskets in eight attempts.
Coleman scored 20 for Texas (13-6, 7-5) and had seven assists. Sims added 14.
No. 5 Illinois 94, at Minnesota 63:
Ayo Dosunmu had 19 points, 10 rebounds and 10 assists for his second triple-double of the season, Kofi Cockburn scored 22 points in 24 minutes, and the Fighting Illini cruised past the Gophers for their seventh consecutive victory.
Trent Frazier added 15 points and six steals to help the Illini (15-5, 12-3) stay in second place in the bruising Big Ten with two weeks to go in league play.
The Illini had a 31-8 edge in fast-break points, shot 56% from the floor and forced 18 turnovers by the Gophers (13-10, 6-10).
Freshman Jamal Mashburn Jr. led Minnesota with 16 points and six rebounds.
at Duke 66, No. 7 Virginia 65:
Freshman Jaemyn Brakefield scored the goahead basket on a reverse layup with 1:58 left and the
Blue Devils came up with a final-possession stop and upset the Cavaliers.
Matthew Hurt scored 22 points to lead Duke (10-8, 8-6 Atlantic Coast Conference), which claimed a muchneeded third straight win to improve its uncertain chances of making the NCAA tournament.
Jay Huff finished with 20 points and 12 rebounds for Virginia (15-5, 11-3), which followed a blowout loss at No. 16 Florida State with a second loss the same week in yet another close matchup with the Blue Devils.
at No. 23 Kansas 67, No. 15 Texas Tech 61:
Christian Braun hit a corner threepointer with 24 seconds left, David McCormack scored 17 points and the Jayhawks beat the Red Raiders.
Ochai Agbaji had 14 points, and Jalen Wilson added 11 for Kansas (17-7, 11-5 Big 12). Braun and Marcus Garrett each had 10 points.
Marcus Santos-Silva and Kevin McCullar each scored 12 points for Texas Tech (14-7, 6-6).
Kentucky 70, at No. 19 Tennessee 55:
Isaiah Jackson scored 16 points and the Wildcats matched a season high with their third straight win, using an early run to top the Volunteers.
While Jackson was intimidating inside for the Wildcats (8-13, 7-7 Southeastern Conference), Davion Mintz was accurate from the perimeter, hitting all five of his three-point shots in the first half and finishing with 15 points.
Victor Bailey scored 18 points, Keion Johnson had 15 and Yves Pons added 10 for the Volunteers (15-6, 8-6). Tennessee shot just 32% from the field.