×
X logo

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox.

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)

You may opt-out anytime by clicking "unsubscribe" from the newsletter or from your account.

WVU Faces Road Challenge

MORGANTOWN — No. 12 West Virginia (22-6, 10-5 Big 12) opens its most important road trip of the season when the Mountaineers travel to Schollmaier Arena in Fort Worth, Texas, to face a Texas Christian University team (17-11, 6-9) in need of a signature victory to insure its invitation into the NCAA’s Tournament beginning in mid-March.

WVU is coming off of a 77-62 win against Texas on ESPN’s Big Monday while the Horned Frogs suffered an 87-68 setback at No. 3 Kansas on Wednesday. TCU has dropped its last four contests and eight of its last 11 and finds its back against the wall.

TCU is 13-4 at home this season, including a 4-3 mark in home Big 12 games.

The Mountaineers is 10-0 all-time against the Frogs, including an 82-70 win in Morgantown on Jan. 7. Daxter Miles Jr. led the Mountaineers on the scoreboard in that first meeting, scoring a game-high 22 points while Jevon Carter’s late heroics behind the 3-point arc allowed the preseason No. 2 pick in the 10-team league to pull away late in the game in Morgantown.

TCU trailed by as many as 13 points and by 11 in the second before a 15-4 run allowed the Frogs to knot the game at 57-57 with 9:47 left to play. A Miles layup and Sagaba Konate’s three-point play allowed the ‘Eers to forge a five-point, 62-57, advantage.

Three minutes later, Carter took control of the game, drilling three consecutive triples, the last one coming at 2:52 to put WVU ahead by nine, 74-65. TCU was led by Alex Robinson’s 17 points and Vlad Brodzansky’s 14. Esa Ahmad added 16 points on 7 of 11 shooting, but the sophomore’s status remained uncertain as the team left Morgantown for the 2 p.m. game on ESPN.

Ahmad did not play in the game against the Longhorns, recovering from a sore back suffered in WVU’s victory against Texas Tech last Saturday. West Virginia has already secured a first-round bye in the upcoming Big 12 Tournament, but road wins at TCU and No. 8 Baylor and against Iowa State on Senior Night on March 3rd would allow the Mountaineers to finish no lower than second and would go a long way in helping them earn a second straight shot against the Jayhawks in the tournament championship game.

“Esa’s situation, we’ve had two day off,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “He’s had two days off. It all depends on how he feels. You don’t want it to continue to linger. We all worry about sitting on a plane for three hours and then being ready to play.

“I don’t know if we are doing him or the team a justice. It all depends on how he and the team doctors feel. It’s not any more important than the other 15 games we’ve played. You look at the other ones and ask yourself if you could have some of them back.”

Former Pitt coach Jamie Dixon will, in all likelihood, go with Robinson (11.3 ppg), junior Kenrich Williams (9.9) and freshman Jaylen Fisher (9.8) at the guards with Brodziansky (13.6) and sophomore JD Miller (7.8) at the forwards.

“He’s (Robinson) is a good player. I think they have made a conscious effort to get him the ball more,” Huggins said.

WVU will counter with senior Tarik Phillip (9.5 ppg), Carter (12.6) and Miles Jr. (8.9) at the guards with senior Nathan Adrian (10.3) and junior Elijah Macon (5.5) at the forwards. A healthy Ahmad (11.7) could be back in the starting lineup while freshmen Lamont West (6.4), who is coming off of a career-high 23 points performance in the win over Texas, and Konate (4.7) will undoubtedly see plenty of action.

“We used to ride a bus for three hours back in the day and we were ready to play,” Huggins said. “We’ll just have to see. There’s really nothing we can do about it (the schedule) so we’ll just see what happens.”

In his first season in Morgantown, Konate has established a freshman record with 40 blocked shots.

NEWSLETTER

Today's breaking news and more in your inbox

I'm interested in (please check all that apply)
Are you a paying subscriber to the newspaper? *

COMMENTS

Starting at $4.73/week.

Subscribe Today