WVU Drops Big 12 Opener
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MORGANTOWN--West Virginia men's basketball coach Bob Huggins had a simple message for his players following Wednesday night's 62-59 setback at the hands of No. 11 Texas Tech (12-1) at the Coliseum.
"You can't cheat the game," Huggins said after his Mountaineers (8-5 overall, 0-1 Big 12) dropped its conference opener. "The game won't let you."
'Press' Virginia, which built its reputation on forcing the opposition into multiple mistakes and turning them into points, was the victim of its own miscues against the Red Raiders, committing 22 turnovers which the visitors turned into 27 points.
"We can't pass it," Huggins said. "(Derek Culver) has a guard on him and we can't get it in to him."
Culver finished four rebounds shy of his second double-double--pouring in 12 points and hauling down eight boards--while junior Lamont West came off the bench to tally a game-high 22 points.
But that was pretty much it for the Mountaineer offense, which finished 18 of 43 from the floor (41.9 percent) and 5 of 19 from beyond the 3-point arc (26.3 percent).
Making matters worse was the team's inability to connect from the charity stripe. WVU went to the free-throw line 32 times but made good on only 18 (56.3 percent).
"We out rebound them by 10 (41-31) and 14 of their rebounds came on our missed free throws," Huggins said. "I thought we did a great job of getting after it on the boards. We just didn't make the shots that you have to make when you get those rebounds."
Tech, which heads to Kansas State next, was paced by Jarrett Culver's 18 points - all in the second half - while Matt Mooney tallied 14 points and Davide Moretti added 12.
"(Matt and Davide) really kept us in the game in the first half," Culver said. "They made some big shots and played great defense while I was on the bench."
It was Tech's first victory in the Coliseum since WVU joined the Big 12 in 2012.
"All I can remember are the seniors that came before that never got a chance to taste a victory here" Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said. "The double overtime game here, I think in that first year, and then last year when we came here, and we were all beat up.
"Tonight, was all about them. We expected a tough game. We were playing a very good team coached by a hall of fame coach. And, we got what we expected.
"To our players' credit, they fought hard and found a way to pull it out in the end."
WVU will now go on the road in search of its first Big 12 win of the year, traveling to Texas for a 9 p.m. game on Saturday. The Mountaineers will stay on the road to play Kansas State on Jan. 9th before returning to the Coliseum to play host to Oklahoma State at noon on Saturday, Jan. 12.
"We've dug ourselves a hole and now we have to find a way to dig ourselves out of it," Huggins said.