No. 6 WVU slips past Texas Tech

In danger of dropping its third-straight game, West Virginia needed a win to avoid falling into the muddled middle of the Big 12 standings. Texas Tech must make West Virginia pay for fouling.

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. ¬- Javan Felix scored nine of his 17 points in the final three minutes as Texas upended No. 6 West Virginia 56-49 on Wednesday night, handing the Big 12 co-leaders their first home loss of the season. YOU’VE GOT A FRIEND Texas Tech has two players-Japreece Dean (3.44) and Rayven Brooks (3.22) ranking in the Big 12’s top 15 for assists per game. Maybe it is time to let Justin Gray into the starting lineup.

“I have always thought, as long as I’ve done this, when you make easy shots and when you can’t make free throws, you’re not mentally into what you’re doing”, West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said. Star guard Isaiah Taylor was contained to a four points, his second-lowest total of the season and the least since conference play began. Texas travels to Lawrence to play No. 3 Kansas on Saturday at 1 p.m.

With no one in front of him, Phillip capped the game with a dunk.

Only two players reached double-figures in scoring, led by Devin Williams (11) and Jonathan Holton (10).

Jaysean Paige scored 18 to pace WVU. He, like most of the Red Raiders was extremely efficient from the free throw line throughout the game. Though they outrebounded Texas 49-33, the Mountaineers shot 8 of 23 (34.8 percent) from the free-throw line.

The Texas Tech Red Raiders and the West Virginia Mountaineers both rank higher in average field goal percentage when compared to their effective field goal percentages. 2-7, Carter 1-7, Phillip 0-2, Holton 0-2, Paige 0-3). However, WVU struggled to convert that into any sort of comfortable lead until late in the first half, and even then it didn’t last as the Red Raiders closed the half with a 15-3 run.

But the Mountaineers scored only seven points off turnovers against the Longhorns this night. Right after Paige’s shot fell through the net, the Mountaineers forced Smith into another turnover and then while using all of the shot clock, West Virginia got the ball to Phillip, who knocked down a shot more than a few feet from beyond the arc as the shot clock expired to put West Virginia ahead, 27-20. This marks the first time since 2012 that the Longhorns have played back-to-back games against opponents in the Top 10 and first time in program history that UT has played consecutive teams in the Top 10 in true road contests. Smith successfully slammed home two alley-oop passes during the run.

“You’ve got to believe”, Texas coach Shaka Smart said after the Longhorns came to WVU Coliseum having lost their first two Big 12 road games.