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Mountaineers Hoping Quick Turnaround Helps Versus Texas

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After suffering their worst loss of the season, the West Virginia Mountaineers will not have much time to lick their wounds as the Texas Longhorns come to town Monday evening.

Saturday afternoon the No. 12 Mountaineers (14-3, 3-2 Big 12) were upset by Kansas State (8-9, 1-4) 84-68. In just two day’s time, WVU will have to defend its home court against Texas (12-5, 2-3). The Longhorns are coming off a disappointing loss themselves, losing 66-57 against Kansas at home. The Longhorns are also looking to break out of a bit of a slump, having gone 3-4 in their last seven games.

After the loss Saturday junior Gabe Osabuohien and senior Chase Harler both said they prefer a quick turnaround after a bad loss.

“For me it’s good,” Osabuohien said. “Any time I lose I’m anxious for the next game so I can go out and get a win because I hate being in the losing column.”

Osabuohien scored a WVU career-high 10 points Saturday. He also grabbed five rebounds and had three steals.

“After you lose you want to go out there and make up for the game,” Harler said. “We’ll game plan tomorrow and try to forget about this.”

Harler tied to WVU’s leading scorer Saturday with 11 points but was just 1-5 from three-point range.

Texas is led by junior guard Matt Coleman III who scores 12 points and dishes out 4.3 assists per game. As a team, the Longhorns are tied for the Big 12 lead in blocked shots with 80. Junior forward Jerico Sims averages 1.4 blocks per game to go along with 9.7 points and 8.1 rebounds.

In the loss against Kansas, Texas was out-rebounded 40-29 and committed 17 personal fouls, leading to 21 free throw attempts for the Jayhawks. Sims was the team’s leading scorer with 20 points.

This will be the second time this season the Mountaineers have lost on a Saturday and play again the following Monday. Last time, WVU lost to Kansas on Saturday, Jan. 4 and turned around to defeat Oklahoma State on Monday, Jan. 6. Tip-off from the WVU Coliseum Monday evening will be at 7 p.m.

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