WVU Basketball Fails To Overcome Abysmal First Half Against Utah

MORGANTOWN, W.Va. – WVU basketball never lead in a 61-56 home loss to the Utah Utes on Wednesday night, as a comeback attempt fell short.

Wednesday featured another slow start for the Mountaineers, as they went down 9-0 in the first three minutes, forcing a timeout by WVU head coach Ross Hodge. senior guard Honor Huff put WVU on the board with a three-pointer, but the Utes went up 13-3.

The Utes grew its lead into its second 9-0 run as WVU turned the ball over four times before the 1-minute media timeout.

Senior guard Treysen Eaglestaff broke the drought at the 11:36 mark with a free throw. Freshman forward DJ Thomas and Eaglestaff made layups on consecutive possessions to cut the score to 18-8.

The spark continued into a 10-3 run for the Mountaineers, capped off by a free throw from freshman Amir Jenkins for a 21-13 score with 5:07 remaining in the half.

WVU ended the first half with a three-point swing, going into the half down 31-21.

Hodge called a timeout at the 15:53 after being outscored 10-5 to start the half.

Fifth-year guard Chance Moore made a free throw and then WVU’s first three of the half as senior guard Jasper Floyd added a layup before a Utah timeout. Floyd’s layup cut the Utah lead to single digits at 36-45.

WVU had the score within five at the 8:58 mark after a back-to-back layups from Moore and Lorient. Utah found another 6-2 run before seven straight points from WVU made it 53-51 with under four minutes to go.

The Utes struck back with a layup from junior guard Terrance Brown made a reverse layup to extend the lead to four points.

After two Utah free throws, Huff made a triple with 33 seconds to go, cutting the lead to three.

Floyd fouled to send Brown to the free throw line, where he missed his first shot. The Mountaineers made a last-ditch effort to tie, but Huff missed a three short.

WVU was given another chance, as Utah junior forward Seydou Traore missed two free throws with five seconds left. Floyd grabbed the rebound and threw an outlet pass intended for Eaglestaff out of bounds. Utah followed with two more free throws for a 61-56 win.

WVU basketball will take the court again at 5 p.m. on Saturday when the team takes on TCU on the road.

Find more coverage of Ross Hodge and WVU basketball at WV Sports Now.