By Steve Habel, Senior Editor
AUSTIN, Texas — Be it the grueling travel from the heart of Appalachia or the fact that West Virginia always brings out the best in Texas, the 10th-ranked Mountaineers needed every iota of their talent and waning energy, but found the fortitude to outlast the Longhorns, 74-72, Saturday afternoon in Big 12 Conference play at the Frank Erwin Center.
The Mountaineers’ Jevon Carter scored nine of his 15 points in the final four minutes and Teyvon Myers added 16 points but the game came down, as they always seem to do for West Virginia against Texas, to the final minutes.
Two free throws by Carter with 3:52 to play allowed [s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)]West Virginia a 65-60 lead. A three-pointer by UT’s Jacob Young and a layup by Jarrett Allen got the Longhorns to within a point at 66-65. A jumper by the Mountaineers’ Tarik Phillip was answered by two free throws from Texas guard Kerwin Roach II before Carter canned a jumper to put West Virginia back up by three, 70-67.
After Allen hit one of two free throws, the Mountaineers’ Nathan Adrian made two from the charity stripe when he was fouled taking an offensive rebound, giving West Virginia a 72-68 advantage. UT’s Shaquille Cleare responded with a layup to cut the lead with 26.5 seconds to play.
Carter then added two more free throws and, after a Roach miss, Phillips made one of two to finish off the Longhorns (7-10 overall, 1-4 in Big 12 play).
West Virginia (15-2, 4-1 in Big 12 play) also got 14 points from Phillip, as 10 of the 11 players who took the floor for the Mountaineers scored.
“We just didn’t have any energy,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. “Nobody travels (in the Big 12) the way we travel, and our sleep patterns are always off. Texas is talented, and this league is just brutal. Everywhere go play they have good players, and the coaching we see game in and game out is second to none.”
Texas was led by Allen’s career-high 19 points while Andrew Jones tied a career high with 17 before fouling out with 3:23 to play. Cleare scored 12 points and Roach had 11 for the Longhorns.
The Longhorns were playing their first game since the first week of the season without leading scorer Tevin Mack, who was indefinitely suspended Thursday for the second time this year for an unspecified violation of team rules.
Texas has lost five of its past six outings, with five of its past six losses by five points or less.
“One less turnover, or one more stop, makes a difference in winning or losing some of these close games,” Allen said. “We think we are close to getting over that hump. I know we are working hard and we won’t stop doing so.”
Texas registered a two-game sweep of West Virginia last year, winning, 56-49, in Morgantown and 85-78 in Austin. The Longhornscommitted just eight turnovers during the victory in Morgantown and seven during the win in Austin last year; they had 19 Saturday.
Despite the loss, Texas still owns an 8-5 lead in the all-time series, which dates back to an 80-79 win by the Mountaineers Dec. 28, 1973 in Portland, Oregon (Far West Classic).
Jones’ three-pointer on the break at the 7:50 mark of the first half garnered Texas a 21-14 lead, its largest of the first half.
Texas led through the rest of the half until a Brandon Watkins putback layup with 2:11 left in the half tied the game at 31.
That started a 12-0 West Virginia run as once back to even the Mountaineers woke up from their first-half funk. They jumped to the lead on back-to-back baskets by Carter and Miles that handed them a 35-31 lead at the 1:24 and went to intermission with a 39-34 advantage.
West Virginia outshot Texas 48.3 percent to 45.5 percent in the half despite going four minutes without a field goal and missing seven straight shots in the middle of the half.
Myers led the Mountaineers with nine points while Allen poured in 10 points to pace the Longhorns. UT’s 10 turnovers at the half were more than it had in either game against West Virginia last season.
“For the majority of the game we kept our poise, but there were a couple of key stretches where we didn’t — like at the end of the first half,” Texas coach Shaka Smart said. “It was interesting to see how our guys responded to our last game and how things are going with this team, and putting the result aside I think we did a lot of things really well.”
Texas opened the second half with a 12-2 run over the first five minutes, using four points from Roach, three free throws by Jones, a dunk by Allen and a ringing deep-corner three from Young to assume a 46-41 lead.
West Virginia surged back in front at the 9:33 mark as Phillip scored five straight points while going hard to the basket, with the second layup a pretty, crossover, change-of-pace lefthander that granted the Mountaineers a 54-53 lead.
That set the table for a back-and-forth finish, with West Virginia’s experience and depth proving the difference in the endgame.
“It’s hard to scheme to stop a certain guy for us, because we have players across the board who can score and lead us,” Huggins said. “Texas played really well, they were hard for us to press. They have great ballhandlers, and that helps.”
Texas returns to the court Tuesday at currently top-ranked Baylor and then plays Saturday at Kansas (which likely will be the nation’s No. 1 team when the new polls are released Monday).
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