Field Level Media
Jan 20, 2018
This time No. 6 West Virginia built a second-half lead too big to fail, dominating Texas 86-51 behind 22 points from Jevon Carter in Morgantown, W.Va., on Saturday.
Reserve guard Beetle Bolden poured in 19 points for the Mountaineers (16-3, 5-2), who closed the first half on a 15-2 run and then really poured it on.
That stood in contrast to the double-digit leads that vanished during previous losses to Texas Tech amend Kansas.
Texas (12-7, 3-4) had been competitive in every game this season but provided scant resistance this time, fading when West Virginia went on a 21-6 run early in the second half.
Daxter Miles scored 15 points, and Sagaba Konate added 10 points, 14 rebounds and six blocks to get the best of his matchup against Longhorns center Mohamed Bamba.
The Texas 7-footer, projected as a one-and-done NBA lottery pick, finished with nine points, 13 boards and four blocks.
West Virginia owned the rebounding battle 45-29 and 21-6 edge in second-chance points.
Carter added eight assists and made 4 of 7 from 3-point range, part of West Virginia's 12-of-23 deep shooting.
The Longhorns finished 3 of 15 from 3 and shot 34 percent overall.
Kerwin Roach and Eric Young had nine points each for Texas, whose leading scorer Dylan Osetkowski finished with eight -- half his average -- and five turnovers.
The sixth man Bolden sparked West Virginia by making three 3-pointers and drawing three offensive fouls in a span of six minutes. He limped off to the locker room midway through the first half, however, with an apparent groin injury.
Texas made only one basket over the final 9:21 of the half, missing nine straight shots and committing four turnovers.
The Longhorns, who entered Saturday with a 45 RPI, had not lost a game by double-digits this season.
West Virginia made all 12 of its free throws and put the game away with 65-pecent shooting from the floor after halftime.
--Field Level Media