WVU Basketball
Second Half Burst Not Enough as WVU Basketball Falls to Houston, 63-49

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – Darian DeVries’ WVU basketball team entered their matchup with Houston in desperate need of an improved performance. But instead, found themselves in familiar territory from the week prior, down by a wide margin early. It was then up to the Mountaineers to avoid suffering the same fate and try to claim their fourth win over a top 10 ranked opponent.
After opening up the game with a miss by Amani Hansberry and then following that up with more confusion on their subsequent offensive possessions, Houston was able to build a 10-2 lead in the first three minutes of the game. Houston’s eight-point edge was thanks to a pair of threes from LJ Cryer.
Eventually, West Virginia would come alive thanks to Joseph Yesufu and Eduardo Andre, who combined to score the Mountaineers’ first five points of the game. However, even as WVU started to find an offensive rhythm, Cryer received some help and the Cougars continued to add more themselves.
Houston held a 10-point 17-7 lead with about 12 minutes on the clock before halftime.
Javon Small would sink a big three at 9:39 to cut Houston’s lead to 22-10. At that point, the Cougars were shooting 60% from the field, a clip that was impossible to deal with for West Virginia.
Then, three minutes later as the tempo slowed down, Jonatan Powell hit a three to cut Houston’s advantage to 26-13. A few possessions and WVU misses later, and the Cougars all of a sudden had their biggest lead of the game, up 32-15 at 3:42.
West Virginia went into the locker room in a 39-19 hole. Small finished the first half going only 1-for-4 from the field and Powell managed to connect on just 1-of-6 shots.
In a reversal of fortunes from the start of the game, Hansberry made the first shot of the second half. A couple Houston misses were followed by five unanswered points in favor of the Mountaineers, shifting momentum to West Virginia.
Let's get back in it ๐
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— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) January 30, 2025
It was at this point the crowd began to impact the game, allowing the team to feed off their energy. And all of a sudden, the Cougars’ 20-point deficit evaporated into just single digits at 16:04.
In the next five minutes, Small led West Virginia on their best complete run of the night. WVU pulled within eight as the scoreboard read 45-37 with 11:13 remaining. Small had five points, giving him eight overall and already surpassing his poor first half production.
With exactly seven minutes left in the game, and during a period Small was able to get a breather, WVU pulled with five to make the score 49-44.
Despite West Virginia keeping up a strong defensive effort, Cryer, Joseph Tugler and the Cougars were able to occasionally score and maintain a multi-possession lead.
Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, they were never able to flip the game completely and ended up losing to the Cougars for the second time this season.
The 63-49 loss drops WVU basketball to 13-7 (4-5, Big 12). And while this one may feel a bit better than the other two, WVU is still left looking for answers with a Feb. 2 trip to Cincinnati up next.