West Virginia Battles TCU in Three Overtimes for the Win

Matchup
FG	38-80	36-82
Field Goal %	47.5	43.9
3PT	9-27	10-31
Three Point %	33.3	32.3
FT	11-20	22-33
Free Throw %	55.0	66.7
Rebounds	45	52
Offensive Rebounds	11	18
Defensive Rebounds	34	34
Team Rebounds	0	0
Assists	14	23
Steals	17	10
Blocks	7	3
Total Turnovers	24	24
Fouls	28	15
Technical Fouls	0	0
Flagrant Fouls	0	0

The West Virginia Mountaineers (11-17, 3-12) fought their way through two overtimes before they pulled away from the Texas Christian Horned Frogs (18-10, 6-9) in the third overtime to win 104-96. It was the first triple overtime game since WVU faced Pitt in 2010 in Oakland, PA in a loss and coincidentally, TCU head coach Jamie Dixon was at the helm for the Panthers but on this night Huggins got his redemption.

The Horned Frogs led 8-4 after a sloppy first five minutes of the game.  The Mountaineers started to heat up, going 4-5 from the field during a 9-0 run that was sparked by Jordan McCabe hit a fade away jumper from the elbow and followed it up on a three from the wing.

Leading 13-10 midway through the first half, the Mountaineers gave up the lead after a miss three from Lamont West turned into an easy basket on the other end for TCU guard Desmond Bane. However, West responded hitting a three from the corner, to retake the lead 20-18.

West Virginia held a six-point lead at halftime, then TCU came out of the break and hit for straight buckets and a pair of free throws to take a one-point lead within the first two minutes of the second half.

The Mountaineers took back the lead moments later after Jordan McCabe intercepted a pass that lead to Jermaine Haley driving the ball from the wing down the lane laying it in to take 40-39 lead.

Lamont West missed a jumper from the top of the key, but Derek Culver ripped the rebound down with one hand, for one of his seven offensive rebounds, and put it back up for the basket and the foul, giving WVU a three-point lead after the free throw.

After a media timeout and the West Virginia trailing by two, Emmitt Mathews Jr hit a three from the right-wing to give the Mountaineers a one-point lead with 11:33 to play in the second half.

A couple of minutes later, McCabe was pushing the tempo after grabbing a rebound and as he was coming down the floor, he through a bounce pass through the defense to guard Chase Harler in the corner and he buried the up six.

The Mountaineers led by six and McCabe was at the free throw line for a one-and-one with 1:29 left to play. Nonetheless, McCabe missed on the front end and led to a three seconds later by JD Miller in the left corner.

Then, a missed three led to another open three in the same left corner from Desmond Bane to tie the game with 58 seconds left in the second half.

West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins called a 30-second timeout and on the ensuing possession, Jermaine Haley drove the right side and put off the back then swatted away by Kevin Samuel wasn’t ruled a goaltend and TCU had the ball with 12 seconds left as they called a timeout. However, the Horned Frogs wouldn’t get a shot off as McCabe stole the ball from Bane and got a three up as time expired but didn’t go through.

TCU quickly took the lead in overtime, but Lamont West responded with a deep three from straightaway to take the lead.

Then with West Virginia down one with 1:50, Jordan McCabe fed down to Derek Culver on the post and he turned along the baseline and put it in with his left hand.

A Chase Harler turnover led to a fastbreak on the other end and WVU found themselves down two.

Huggins took a timeout to draw something up and after getting the ball down to Culver, who then drew a double team, he found a cutting Harler cutting down the opposite baseline for a layup.

Alex Robinson missed a tough fadeaway jumpshot along the baseline and another missed three led us two the second overtime.

Despite leading by as many as five-points in the second overtime, the Mountaineers could not close out the game. It was obvious both teams were getting tired when neither team took advantage of their opportunities to win the game.

In the third overtime, West Virginia found another gear, again from McCabe pushing the tempo up the floor, found Lamont West for a three on the wing, for one of his 11^th assist of the game and giving the Mountaineers a one-point lead with three minutes left in the game.

Jermaine Haley fought inside for his own put back to continue a 10-0 Mountaineer run as Chase Harler put the dagger in the Horned Frogs with a three on the right side giving WVU a 98-91 lead with a 1:31 left in the game.

Freshmen Jordan McCabe and Derek Culver both had double-doubles. Culver had the first 20 plus point and 20 plus rebund game in over 40 years with 22 points and 21 rebounds. The last player to do that was Maurice Robinson against the City College of New York in 1977.

McCabe finished the game with 25 points and 11 assists. Mike Boyd was the last player to put up over 20 points and dish out 10 or more assists. Boyd did it within the same month in December of 1990 against Charlotte and Maryland.

“I went four flat for Jordan (McCabe), because I thought, with the matchup he had, he could get a pretty good shot.” Explained Huggins after the game. “Also, it forces them to help up which kind of turns Derek (Culver) loose. Derek doesn’t have to fight through so much contact to get to the ball.”

Huggins continued on McCabe’s play the last two games where he has scored in double figures and has control of the offense.

“He’s not looking over his shoulder now. That makes all the difference in the world.” Comment Huggs. “When you know you’re going to play and you can play through some mistakes, you still may get your butt chewed out, but you’re allowed to play through some things. I think that makes all the difference in the world. It’s hard to pass it at the right time to a guy for a lob whenever you have your head down looking at the floor. He really doesn’t need to do that, because he has great ball skills.”

Then Bob Huggins talked about Culver ability to rebound.

“We haven’t really checked his vertical, but you’re talking about (a) 6-10, 260 (pound player) who just separates people and takes a pounding.” Boasted Huggins. “I mean, he takes a beating every game, but he’s strong enough that he can get through it. It’s almost one of those deals; well, if that was somebody else, that would’ve been a foul. With him, because he’s so strong and he plays through contact so well, he gets rebounds when there are three or four people around him.”

Jermaine Haley set a new career high with 18 points and had some big moments throughout the game attacking the rim.

“I think Jermaine (Haley) is getting better. Stated Huggins. “His biggest problem was that he wasn’t very assertive, and I think a lot of that was having those veteran guys, and he was kind of taking the back seat. Now, he’s, in most instances, the oldest guy out there. I think we have been encouraging them to be more aggressive.”

West Virginia has made strides within the last week. It’s evident this team has found some chemistry, figuring out their roles within the team and its highlighting their talents. If they continue to improve and can finish the season 2-1, it’s possible they can generate some noise in the Big 12 tournament”

“I told them yesterday that we aren’t giving up. That’s not in my DNA, and there’s a lot of them, I don’t think it is in their DNA.” Proclaimed Huggs. “We need to make a run here at the end of the year, and then, we need to go to the tournament and win. I don’t think a postseason deal is totally out the question. I mean, it’s going to be tough. We’re minus six right now. We have to win some games. We have another one here at home; we generally play better here at home. We got Oklahoma on the road and Oklahoma State on the road. I mean, we can win. I’m not saying we will, but we can win. Those are games that I think we can win, and then, we can go to Kansas City. It’s happened before.”