WVU Men’s Basketball fell to No. 13 Texas Tech University, 70-63, Sunday afternoon at Hope Coliseum. WVU shot 9.1% from three-point range in the loss, compared to Texas Tech’s 54.2%.
Senior forward Brenen Lorient led the team with 21 points, shooting 10-for-14 from the floor. He added five rebounds and three steals to his box score.
WVU shot 24-for-55 from the floor, 2-for-22 from deep and 13-for-23 from the free-throw line. Three Red Raiders knocked down more three-point field goals than the Mountaineers as a team.
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This game was the first matchup between two head coaches who coached alongside each other at North Texas University, Texas Tech’s Grant McCasland and WVU’s Ross Hodge.
Texas Tech guard Donovan Atwell opened the game with an in-rhythm triple in transition for the first points of the game. Atwell responded with another three-pointer that forced Hodge into a 30-second timeout three minutes into the game, down 6-1.
Following the stoppage, freshman guard Amir Jenkins buried a pull-up elbow jumper to cut WVU’s deficit to three. Following a defensive stand by Jenkins on Red Raider guard Christian Anderson, the score remained 6-3 entering the first mandatory media timeout.
Jenkins found Lorient for an alley-oop jam following the timeout to cut the game within one point. Texas Tech immediately responded with long balls from forward LeJuan Watts and Anderson to extend its lead to 12-5.
Following a brick wall screen set by senior center Harlan Obioha, senior guard Jasper Floyd took the man advantage to the rim for an open layup. The Red Raiders responded with a dunk by forward JT Toppin and three free throws by Atwell to take a 17-9 lead.
After the two teams traded buckets, graduate student forward Chance Moore went on a solo 5-0 run to blast WVU within four points, 22-18, heading into the second mandatory media timeout with 9:32 to go in the first half.
Neither team scored in the gap between mandatory timeouts, but Floyd picked up his second foul checking Anderson.
On the Red Raiders’ first offensive set after the break, Atwell pushed off to find separation to knock down his third triple of the day. WVU trailed 25-19 after Moore split free throws.
Texas Tech blasted on a quick 5-0 run that was capped off with a three-pointer by Toppin to take a 30-19 lead. After an offensive foul by Anderson, the half’s final mandatory timeout commenced with the Red Raiders on top, 30-21.
Texas Tech guard Jaylen Petty drilled a triple to give his team its largest lead, 12 points, 35-23. Anderson followed with an elbow jumper to extend it to 13, but senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff drilled a corner three-pointer to make the score 37-27.
West Virginia trailed Texas Tech 39-27 at the break. Moore led the team in scoring with nine points.
The Red Raiders shot a blistering 60.9% from the floor and 72.7% from three-point range to power themselves to a 12-point lead in the locker rooms. In comparison, the Mountaineers shot an ice-cold 14.3% from deep and 40.7% overall.
WVU opened the second half by forcing the ball inside to Lorient, who finished with a reverse layup. Lorient then found Floyd with an interior cut for another layup on the team’s next possession to make the score 39-31.
Floyd continued to bring energy to the Mountaineers, collecting defensive stops and orchestrating an 8-0 run for his team, to make the deficit just four, forcing the Red Raiders into a timeout.
Petty and Atwell responded with two long balls to silence the WVU run. At the first mandatory timeout of the second half, the Red Raiders led 45-37.
Immediately after the break, Toppin drilled his second triple to extend Tech’s lead to 11. Toppin then moved inside with a post hook to make the score 50-37 in favor of the Red Raiders as Hodge called another timeout.
Obioha converted a putback layup in an attempt to bring life back into the crowd. Following a Toppin two-pointer and an airball by senior guard Honor Huff, WVU trailed 54-41 into the second mandatory timeout.
After WVU attempted a comeback, Petty silenced momentum with a standalone three-pointer to give Texas Tech a 59-47 lead into the third mandatory media timeout of the half.
After the teams traded two-point trips, the score was 61-49 in favor of Texas Tech at a 5:39 timeout.
Toppin slammed one home to extend Texas Tech’s lead to 13 points, forcing Hodge to call a timeout with 4:22 remaining in the game. Lorient scored a floater on the after-timeout play.
Floyd and Lorient racked up buckets, but Anderson responded with a silencing three-pointer to make Texas Tech’s lead 66-56. Lorient quickly scored two more points, but Moore couldn’t manage to hit a free throw after a loose ball foul, so the game remained within eight.
Eaglestaff scored a layup with 19 seconds to go and Anderson missed the first half of a one-and-one and Lorient was fouled and split free throws to make the score 68-63 with four seconds left. Watts knocked down two free throws and the Red Raiders won 70-63.
WVU now has a six-day rest, with its next game falling at 6 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 14, against the University of Central Florida at Addition Financial Arena in Orlando, Florida.
