RECAP: No. 11 Red Raiders 62, West Virginia 59

Wednesday, January 2

Morgantown, WV

6 p.m.

Texas Tech Athletics

12-1/1-0

West Virginia

8-5/0-1

Texas Tech

West Virginia

RECAP: No. 11 Red Raiders 62, West Virginia 59

January 02, 2019 | Men's Basketball

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MORGANTOWN, WV – No. 11 Texas Tech earned its first-ever win at West Virginia with a 62-59 victory over the Mountaineers in its Big 12 opener on Wednesday at the WVU Coliseum.

The Red Raiders (12-1, 1-0 Big 12) were 0-6 all-time in Morgantown coming into the game and was limited to 20 points in the first half before making a comeback and earning the win over the Mountaineers (8-5, 0-1 Big 12).

"I'm just really happy for our players," Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. "The Big 12 is like an 18-round fight, so our objective is just to give ourselves a chance every night, and I thought our guys did. Obviously, they outrebounded us and got to the free-throw line. I think we won the game with our ball-handling. We only had three turnovers in the second half. We made them turn it over a little bit more than normal, and then we took care of the ball in the second half. I thought that's where the basketball game was won or lost. I'm just happy for our players. The main reason is that nobody respects West Virginia basketball or Coach (Bob) Huggins more than I do and more than we do."

Jarrett Culver scored all of his team-leading 18 points in the second half after shooting 6-for-8 from the field and 6-for-6 at the free-throw line. Davide Moretti added 14 points, including a 3-pointer to give the Red Raiders a 55-54 lead with 2:09 remaining before Culver made a jumper and four free throws to secure the road victory to open conference play.

West Virginia led 22-14 with 3:33 remaining in the first half before the Red Raiders went on a 17-0 run that spanned nearly seven minutes and with the Red Raiders leading 31-22. The game would tighten and was at 37-31 on a dunk by Culver before WVU regained the lead at 44-43 on a Lamont West 3-pointer with eight minutes remaining. The lead was exchanged four times before Moretti drilled a 3-pointer to give the Red Raiders the one-point lead that would only grow with Culver's jumper, four free throws and then one more free throw by Moretti with three seconds remaining to leave Morgantown with a three-point lead.

Matt Mooney went for 14 points after knocking down five shots from the field and four from the free-throw line, while Moretti finished with 12 after hitting two 3-pointers. Brandone Francis scored eight for the second straight game and also added four rebounds and Norense Odiase and Tariq Owens each had four points. Odiase tied the game at 48 off an assist from Culver who led the team with two assists. Culver has now scored in double-digits in all 13 games and has led the team in scoring in 12. He's averaging 19.5 points for the season and scored his 18 points in only 22 minutes against WVU after falling into early foul trouble.

Texas Tech finished the game shooting 21-for-55 (38.2 percent) while West Virginia shot 41.9 percent from the field and was limited to 5-for-19 on 3-pointers. The Red Raiders were 17-for-24 from the free-throw line and the Mountaineers were at 18-for-32 in a game were Owens, Odiase and Kyler Edwards each fouled out and Culver had four fouls.
Texas Tech would end the first half on a 6-0 run as the game went to halftime with the Red Raiders trailing 22-20 but with the momentum in a game where they trailed by as many as nine. Mooney led TTU with seven points in the first half, while Owens had four rebounds and Odiase had two blocks. The Red Raiders were limited to 7-for-24 shooting in the first half, including going 0-for-6 on 3-pointers.

West Virginia had a 21-12 lead with four minutes remaining in the half before an 8-1 run by TTU closed out the half. The Red Raiders would cut into the deficit with Odiase hitting a pair of free throws followed by layups from Corprew and Francis. TTU would pull to within three on a steal and one free throw by Francis with 2:40 on the clock before the final point of the half was scored by Mooney who hit one of two free throws. Mooney helped the Red Raiders stay in the game early by hitting a jumper to stop a 7-0 run by the Mountaineers and cut the deficit to 10-8 with 11:25 remaining in the first half. WVU, which held the Red Raiders to their lowest scoring half of the season, controlled most of the half before missing their final four shots and only taking a two point lead into the break.

"What happened was we're playing against a Hall of Fame coach with really good players and a really good defense," Beard said. "They face-guarded Jarrett (Culver) a lot. I thought he had great composure in the second half. He looked like a veteran out there. We had some other guys like (David) Moretti to my left here, with a no-turnover game. He hit some big timely shots. I think any problems that we had with our offense tonight was because West Virginia is a really good defensive team."

The Red Raiders return to action against Kansas State at 1 p.m. on Saturday at the United Supermarkets Arena before also hosting Oklahoma at 8 p.m. on Tuesday. TTU is currently 8-0 at home this season after going 8-1 in Big 12 play last season on its home court.