Mountaineers Let One Slip Away on the Road at TCU

The TCU Horned Frogs exacted a bit of revenge Saturday afternoon, upsetting No. 17 West Virginia 67-60 at home in overtime.

The Mountaineers (19-8, 7-7 Big 12) beat TCU (15-12, 6-8) 81-49 in Morgantown earlier this season on Jan. 14. In that game, the Horned Frogs shot just 14-44 (31.8%) from the floor and 7-23 (30.4%) from three. The Mountaineers bullied the smaller TCU lineup inside, leading 38-24 in rebounds and 36-10 in points in the paint.

Saturday was a different story, as TCU shot 44.4% (24-54) from the floor and outscored WVU in the paint 30-26.

TCU started the game strong, jumping out to an 11-6 lead in the first five minutes. West Virginia responded, however, going on a 19-4 run to build up a 10-point, 25-15 lead.

The Mountaineers maintained that lead until there were three minutes left in the half. TCU closed the first half on an 8-0 run and trailed only 31-29 at halftime.

The second half was much more even, with neither team building a lead larger than seven points. A free throw by Oscar Tshiebwe, his first and only point of the game, with 1:03 left to play tied the game at 55-55. Each team had opportunities to make a game-winning shot, but WVU’s Taz Sherman missed a jumper and TCU’s Desmond Bane was called on an offensive foul and the game went into overtime.

The Mountaineers were dreadful in the overtime period, scoring just five points on 2-8 shooting with two turnovers. The Horned Frogs scored 12 points and did not turn the ball over to win 67-60.

TCU was led by big man Kevin Samuel who scored a game-high 19 points on a perfect 7-7 shooting from the floor. Samuel also grabbed eight rebounds. RJ Nembhard was second on the team with 16 points to go with three rebounds and four assists.

West Virginia’s leaders were Derek Culver with 18 points and 12 rebounds and Sherman with 16 points on 6-11 shooting. The freshman Tshiebwe played one of his worst games of the season, scoring just the single aforementioned point and grabbing five rebounds in 15 minutes.

It is the third loss in the last four games for West Virginia, and the team’s sixth road loss in the Big 12 this season. The Mountaineers will stay on the road and take on the Texas Longhorns in Austin on Monday. Tip-off is at 7 p.m. EST.