No. 3 Houston Rolls Past West Virginia in Big 12 Opener 89-55

No. 3 Houston welcomed West Virginia for their inaugural Big 12 Conference game on Saturday afternoon at the Fertitta Center. Once the ball was tipped, the Cougars took the lead and didn’t lose it at any point, winning 89-55.

Houston (14-0, 1-0 Big 12) dominated WVU (5-9, 0-1 Big 12) on both sides of the floor. UH clamped the Mountaineers down on offense as WVU could not find many quality shots. Houston put their focus on Kerr Kriisa, Noah Farrakhan and RaeQuan Battle, which forced the trio in taking poor shots. West Virginia shot 32% from the field in the Big 12 opener.

Battle collected two first half fouls, resulting in him sitting on the bench for the majority of the frame. Battle, who came into Saturday averaging 27.3 points, was held to just four points on 1-of-9 shooting from the field.

WVU F Patrick Suemnick finished with 12 points and five rebounds. Suemnick’s 12 points was a team-high on Saturday.

The Cougars shot 53% from the field as a team while West Virginia had many field goal droughts throughout the game. UH controlled all of the statistic categories, highlighted by 48 points in the paint.

Baylor transfer LJ Cryer led the way for Houston on Saturday. Cryer, who is familiar with Big 12 play, recorded 20 points on 7-of-12 shooting.

Saturday’s game marked the fourth-straight game without big man Jesse Edwards, who fractured his right wrist on Dec. 16 vs. UMass. WVU interim HC Josh Eilert gave an update on Edwards saying that the Syracuse transfer was believed to have his cast taken off on Thursday.

West Virginia will have a few days off before hosting Kansas State on Tuesday at the WVU Coliseum. The Mountaineers and Wildcats will tipoff at 7 p.m. on ESPN+.