No. 10 West Virginia cranks up pressure to beat TCU, 73-42
Over the last two weeks during a four-game stretch without suspended senior forward Jon Holton, West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins was at times, forced to back away from his team’s signature press defense.
On Saturday afternoon, when Holton returned to action, Huggins and No. 10 West Virginia cranked up the tenacious full court scheme again to beat TCU, 73-42 at the Coliseum.
TCU turned the ball over 26 and West Virginia scored 26 points off of those turnovers. West Virginia also racked up 15 steals in the game.
The win for West Virginia (20-5, 9-3) guarantees it will finish the day in a two-way tie atop the Big 12 standings with either Kansas or Oklahoma. The Jayhawks and Sooners play later this afternoon. TCU (11-14, 2-10) and head coach Trent Johnson have now lost eight of their last ten games.
In his first game back from suspension, Holton finished the game with 14 points, seven rebounds, five assists and two steals in 19 minutes off the bench for Huggins.
Holton was one of four players along with Devin Williams, Esa Ahmad and Jaysean Paige, to record double-digit scoring totals for West Virginia.
Williams had eleven points and twelve rebounds to mark his eleventh double-double on the season. Also, with 8:28 left to play in the game, Williams converted an old-fashion three-point play to become the 50th 1000-point scorer in West Virginia school history.
Ahmad recorded a new career-best, 14 points.
For West Virginia, it didn’t take long to pull away from TCU. The game was won in the first half.
During the first four minutes of play, West Virginia had a 10-0 run. Off of a steal by Jevon Carter, Daxter Miles knocked down a three-pointer, which was followed by a three-pointer from guard Jaysean Paige. Ahmad and forward Elijah Macon each knocked down a pair of free throws to give West Virginia an 11-2 lead, right out of the gate.
West Virginia then moved ahead by double digits by using two separate 9-0 runs.
Leading 13-7, Ahmad made a layup. Williams buried a jumper and Holton made a three-pointer from the right corner. Following the three, West Virginia gained a steal by Teyvon Myers and Myers found Holton for an easy layup.
At the 12:45 mark of the first half, West Virginia, led 22-7.
Another 9-0 run was capped by Holton when he scored on a layup, stole the consequent inbounds pass and threw down a two-handed dunk to put West Virginia ahead 33-15, with 5:39 to play in the first half.
The Mountaineers would hold a 41-22 lead at halftime and never had to look back at all in the second half.
Huggins and company will now turn its attention to the next test. West Virginia travels to play at Texas on Tuesday. Last month, Texas beat West Virginia in Morgantown.