Texas men’s basketball hosts West Virginia, visits Texas Tech

By Riley Zayas

On a Saturday afternoon in Manhattan, Kansas, the Texas men’s basketball team proved that it can bring its best home or away, and most importantly, that the boat with its chances to make the NCAA tournament, has not yet sailed. The Longhorns defeated Kansas State, 70-59, for their second win of the week, and gained a lot of confidence along with it.

“Our guys have really taken ownership of what we’ve asked them to do,” Texas head coach Shaka Smart said after the win. “Today we asked them to play with grit. It’s hard to come in here and win without a level of grit to you.”

That grit helped the Longhorns[s2If current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] to a win and a mentality that will be needed moving forward this week in games against West Virginia and Texas Tech that could be critical to UT’s chances of reaching the NCAA tournament. The Longhorns host the Mountaineers at 6 p.m. Monday in a game that can be seen on ESPNU, and then travel to Lubbock to face the Red Raiders at 11 a.m. Saturday in a game that will be broadcast on either ESPN or ESPN2.

There really have been only two games during Big 12 play this season in which Texas could not keep up with its opponent. Both were on the road, and one was against West Virginia, which administered the worst beating of the Longhorns’ season, in terms of point difference as the Mountaineers took it to Texas in Morgantown, 97-59. (The other lopsided conference loss was the 81-52 thumping UT absorbed at Iowa State.)

Coming into this week’s matchup, the scenario is a little different. To start, while the Mountaineers are still in the top 25 at No. 17. They have dropped a few places back in the polls after losing three of their last four, including a setback against Kansas State, which is in dead last in the Big 12 standings. In addition, Texas will be at home.

But the Horns will be without top big man Jericho Sims, who is out for the season with a back injury. His absence leaves a major gap in the post, although previously unused reserves like Will Baker have stepped up as of late. Baker scored a career-high 20 points Wednesday in the win over TCU.

If Texas fans need to know one thing about the Mountaineers, it’s that this is a team that can score — a lot. Averaging 71 points per game, head coach Bob Huggins’ talented squad relies on its offense to get things going. WVU has scored 80 or more points on seven occasions this season; the 97 scored against Texas were the most it has scored all year. This potent offense starts with 6-foot-9 Oscar Tshiebwe, who has led the Mountaineers in scoring (11.0 points per game), rebounds (9.3 per game) and blocked shots (32 this season). The forward has been consistent throughout the past few games, contributing with double figures in scoring in three of the past five ballgames, but was limited to just a single point in a devastating 67-60 loss Saturday at TCU. By taking Tshiebwe out of the game, the Horned Frogs had a much easier time on defense, and in turn, held West Virginia to 11 points under its season average. It won’t be an easy one with Sims out, but if Texas can turn in a similarly effective defensive performance, its chances of victory should improve greatly.

But the Longhorns can not be worried about only Tshwiebwe, as forward Emmitt Matthews and guards Miles McBride, Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil have been an excellent supporting cast, all shooting above .300 on three-pointers.

Despite a top-25 ranking, the Mountaineers have been rather inconsistent on the road this season, compiling a 3-7 record on the road, including losses in the last four games that were not played in Morgantown, which could be yet another point in the Horns’ favor heading into a critical game.

The Longhorns are tied with Oklahoma and TCU for fifth place in the conference with a 6-8 record, a game behind fourth-place West Virginia with three games left to play before the Big 12 tournament in Kansas City.

Saturday’s game at Texas Tech will be a rematch of a Feb. 8 home game that slipped from the Horns’ grasp in the final minutes.

Tech has had igts ups and downs over the past couple weeks since beating Texas despite trailing the Longhorns by 12 points at halftime. Tech followed the win over UT by crushing TCU, 88-42, but then lost, 73-60, to Oklahoma State, which is in last place in the conference standings. Head coach Matt Beard’s squad has beaten Kansas State and Iowa State heading into Tuesday’s game at Oklahoma and now sits in third place in the Big 12 with a 9-5 record against conference opponents.

The Red Raiders are the top three-point shooting team in the conference, knocking down 36 percent of their shots from beyond the arc. Point guard Davide Moretti and guard Jahmi’us Ramsey have been at the center of that deep-range attack with 60 and 54 three-pointers this season, respectively. In the the first game against Texas, Ramsey scored 18 points, including a pair of three-pointers. Ramsey is Tech’s leading scorer this season, averaging 16.3 points per game, and Moretti is second with an average of 13.3 per game.
[/s2If] [s2If !current_user_can(access_s2member_level2)] [habeabk] [/s2If]