Horns hold off Mountaineers in back-and-forth affair
NO. 7 TEXAS 69, WEST VIRGINIA 61
Heading into Saturday’s slate of games, the Big 12 owned the lowest average margin of victory (7.5 points) among all Division I conferences. Exactly half of the league’s games had been decided by five points or fewer over the first three weeks of competition.
In other words, the 10team conference is a bear, a season-long stress test designed to weed out those who can’t handle the mounting pressure.
No. 7 Texas had fared well in those sorts of white-knuckle finishes heading into Saturday night’s clash with West Virginia at WVU Coliseum, posting a 3-0 record against Big 12 foes in games decided by fewer than six points.
The Mountaineers were 0-2 in such games and seemed to be taking an express elevator to the conference cellar before a convincing upset of No. 14 TCU earlier this week.
And true to form, the first meeting between Texas and West Virginia this season continued the league’s trend of compelling, if not always wondrous, contests. The Longhorns (16-3, 5-2 Big 12) defeated the Mountaineers (11-8, 1-6) 69-61 on Saturday night in a game where the lead traded hands eight times and neither team trailed by more than seven at any point.
The win moved Texas to 9-2 under interim coach Rodney Terry.
Texas crawled out to an 11-6 lead during the opening six minutes. It found modest success inside and in the mid-range area, though West Virginia managed to fortify those areas before the Longhorns got too comfortable.
West Virginia flustered Texas by aggressively trapping the ball handler off picks and blitzing with double-teams. That tactic was the primary culprit for the Longhorns’ unsightly first-half shooting — 41.4 percent from the field and 1 of 7 from 3point range — and nine turnovers.
Texas was bodying up on the other end, matching WVU’s physicality. But senior forward Tre Mitchell managed to enjoy some success against the team he spent the 2021-22 season with.
Mitchell chose to take a leave of absence from Texas last February after playing 16 minutes in a lopsided loss to Baylor. He never returned.
One team source said Mitchell’s relationship with then-coach Chris Beard had soured to a point that made it irreconcilable, which led the former UMass big to cut his lone season with Texas short while seeking out a new program. Beard is no longer with Texas either, having been fired for cause Jan. 5 while facing a third-degree felony charge.
Mitchell got off to a torrid start against the Longhorns, scoring a gamehigh nine points with five rebounds in the first half to help West Virginia take a 28-26 lead into halftime.
“I think Tre said it best, Tre said he’s never been more comfortable,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins told local reporters this week. “If he had known that West Virginia was as good a place as it is and people were as nice and kind as what people are here, he would have been here from the beginning.”
Texas met Mitchell with more resistance in the second half. He missed his first five shots and lost track of a couple defensive assignments while the Longhorns used a 9-2 spurt to retake the lead.
But Mitchell’s first (and only) make of the second period was huge — a smooth 3-pointer to cut Texas’ lead to 50-48 with 7:53 remaining. The Texas transfer finished with 12 points, eight rebounds and two blocks.