National Basketball Association
Texas Tech 81, West Virginia 50
When: 9:00 PM ET, Monday, February 4, 2019
Where: United Supermarkets Arena, Lubbock, Texas
Officials:
# Gerry Pollard, # Kipp Kissinger, # Ray Natali
Attendance:
12831
By Field Level Media
Ugly can be defined a lot of ways in basketball.
For West Virginia on Monday night, ugly was measured in two ways: 1. Texas Tech coach Chris Beard was able to empty his bench with 6 1/2 minutes left in the game because 2. the Mountaineers were headed toward a historically bad loss with the Big Monday spotlight shining on them and the Red Raiders.
A blend of terrific defense by 18th-ranked Texas Tech and horrific offense from West Virginia added up to a nightmarish performance for the Mountaineers in the Red Raiders' 81-50 win at Lubbock, Texas.
The result equaled the fourth-worst setback in West Virginia coach Bob Huggins' long career.
Sixth man Brandone Francis led a balanced attack for the Red Raiders with 16 points. Jarrett Culver added 12, Davide Moretti chimed in with 11 and Deshawn Corprew added another 10 points off the bench.
West Virginia freshman Derek Culver was the only real scoring threat for his team, finishing with 23 points and 12 rebounds.
Texas Tech dominated in every phase of the game with 20 assists on 30 made field goals, 38 points in the paint, 33 bench points, and 31 points off 26 Mountaineers turnovers.
However, it was defense that was again the storyline for the Red Raiders (18-5, 6-4 Big 12), who rebounded in a big way from a dismal road loss at Kansas two days earlier and snuffed out any momentum the Mountaineers (10-13, 2-8) were feeling from a home win against Oklahoma.
In a game that wasn't pretty for both teams in the early going, West Virginia never found its way out of a funk. The Mountaineers made just 3 of 17 field goal attempts (17.6 percent) in the first 20 minutes, and they had just one basket in the final 16 1/2 minutes.
The Red Raiders' suffocating defense made every possession a grind, and things never got better for West Virginia, which ended the night 9 of 39 (23.1 percent) from the floor to match the NCAA low mark this season for made shots in a game.
To exacerbate matters, the Mountaineers were also tagged for three flagrant fouls, one on reserve Logan Routt, who while sitting on the bench intentionally locked his legs around Matt Mooney and tripped the Texas Tech guard. Routt was ejected despite not playing a second in the game.
As bad as West Virginia was, the Red Raiders were again solid at home. They shot 52.6 percent (30 of 57) from the field, and until Beard cleared the bench, they were in the 60 percent range.
--Field Level Media
Top Game Performances
| West Virginia |
|
Texas Tech |
|
Derek Culver 23 |
Scoring |
Brandone Francis 16 |
|
Jermaine Haley 4 |
Assists |
Matt Mooney 5 |
|
Derek Culver 12 |
Rebounds |
Norense Odiase 10 |
|
Derek Culver 15 |
Free Throws Made |
Davide Moretti 4 |
|
Jermaine Haley 3 |
Steals |
Matt Mooney 4 |
|
Esa Ahmad 1 |
Blocks |
Josh Mballa 1 |
Team Stats Summary
| Team |
Points |
FG% |
3PM-3PA |
FTM-FTA |
Assists |
Rebounds |
Blocks |
Steals |
Turnovers |
| West Virginia
|
50 |
23.1 |
3-16 |
29-41 |
5 |
25 |
2 |
10 |
26 |
| Texas Tech
|
81 |
52.6 |
8-22 |
13-20 |
20 |
31 |
4 |
13 |
21 |
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