No. 12/13 West Virginia (14-2, 3-1) handed TCU (12-4, 3-1) its first Big 12 Conference loss of the season Monday night in Morgantown, routing the Horned Frogs, 81-49.

Derek Culver put West Virginia on the board first with a layup which was followed by a three-pointer from RJ Nembhard to give TCU a 3-2 lead.

With the game tied at 5-5, the Horned Frogs made back-to-back baskets to take a 9-5 lead as West Virginia went scoreless for over three minutes. Jermaine Haley ended the drought for the Mountaineers and a jump shot from Brandon Knapper would tie the game up.

After Nembhard made a pair of free throws, West Virginia went on a 14-0 run to take a 12-point advantage at 23-11 with 8:46 left until halftime. Seven of the 14 points scored during this run came from Chase Harler.

Desmond Bane ended the West Virginia run by scoring five straight points which cut the Mountaineers’ lead down to seven points. Edric Dennis then made a free throw to make it a 6-0 run for TCU.

A jumper from Miles McBride and layup from Culver ended the TCU run and gave the Mountaineers a 10-point lead at 27-17. After a free throw from Nembhard, Sean McNeil drained back-to-back baskets, one of those being a three-pointer, to make it a 14-point advantage for West Virginia.

The Mountaineers then answered a quick 5-0 run from the Horned Frogs with a 5-0 themselves that was capped off by McNeil’s second three-pointer of the night to give West Virginia a 37-23 halftime lead.

Halftime Stats:

TCU opened the second half by hitting back-to-back three-pointers to bring down its deficit to single digits. But West Virginia responded with a 7-1 run to push its lead up to 14 points at 44-30.

The Horned Frogs didn’t back down and again hit back-to-back three-pointers to cut its deficit down to eight points. But West Virginia answered back again and went on a 19-2 run to take a commanding 63-38 lead with 10:50 left to play.

West Virginia continued its dominance and led by a score of 71-43 after a three-point play from Haley later on.

From there, the Mountaineers cruised to a victory, earning their third conference win of the season.

West Virginia will hit the road to face Kansas State Saturday at 2 p.m. ET.

Final Stats:

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