WVU Basketball Blows Early Lead in Tough Loss at TCU

WVU basketball ended a losing streak Sunday, but failed to build on that momentum, losing 65-60 at TCU Wednesday night.

The Mountaineers (14-8, 5-6 Big 12) and Horned Frogs (12-10, 5-6) had each lost three straight games before winning their games Sunday and it was TCU that kept its momentum into Wednesday’s meeting. West Virginia had momentum early, but the Mountaineers blew a 12-point first-half lead and fought all the way back in the final minutes en route to the fourth loss in their last five games.

After TCU scored the first basket, West Virginia rattled off the next 10 points to build an early lead as the Horned Frogs missed seven straight shots. WVU began the game by coupling a stingy defense with a balanced offensive attack. Six different Mountanineineers scored as TCU turned the ball over nine times in the first 10 minutes.

WVU’s lead grew as large as a dozen points on Toby Okani’s dunk with six minutes left in the half. From there, however, the roles reversed as TCU’s defense started to take control.

West Virginia missed nine of its final 11 shots in the first half following Okani’s dunk while TCU shot 6-10. The Horned Frogs outscored WVU 15-4 after the Mountaineers went up by 12, cutting the lead down to just one point, 29-28 at halftime.

TCU quickly came out of the break and took the lead in the second half, bridging the halves with a 12-0 run that put the Horned Frogs up 35-29. TCU boosted its lead all the way to 10, 46-36 on Jace Posey’s jumper with 12 minutes to play. The Horned Frogs were plus-22 over the final six minutes of the first half and the first eight minutes of the second, flipping a 12-point deficit into a 10-point lead.

During that stretch, TCU only turned the ball over twice and was more aggressive in attacking the rim, leading to a plethora of layups, foul shots or offensive rebounds.

TCU led by 11 when West Virginia went Javon Small, the Big 12’s leading scorer, came alive and willed WVU to a 10-point run to cut the lead to one point, 54-53. Small scored the final eight points of the run with a pair of three-pointers.

Following a pair of TCU free throws, Jonathan Powell tied the game 56-56 with his first three-pointer of the night. Powell had been 0-6 from deep before then. Small stole the ball at halfcourt and made a layup in transition to tie the game again at 58-58 after two more free throws for TCU.

Vasean Allette scored the final seven points for TCU and the Horned Frogs prevailed in the final minute.

Despite a slow start, Small finished with 20 points and seven assists to lead the Mountaineers. Andre offered top support with 10 points.

Allette led TCU with 22 points apiece while Noah Reynolds nearly matched him with 20 points. Allette also had 11 rebounds.

The Horned Frogs held big advantages in free throw attempts (23-5) and rebounds (34-26) while WVU basketball led in points off turnovers (23-10) and assists (19-9).

WVU basketball returns home to host Utah in the Coliseum Saturday at 5 p.m.