Texas uses same recipe against WVU for 88-71 win

Much like the first meeting, West Virginia (15-11, 7-6) was dominated inside the paint by Texas (20-5, 9-3) as the Longhorns would defeat the Mountaineers for the second time this season 88 to 71 Saturday night.

The Longhorns shot right around 60-percent for the game, propelled by another strong effort from sophomore center Cameron Ridley with 17 points and 6 rebounds, as well as 18 points from Javan Felix. All five of the Longhorns starters finished the game in double figures, while West Virginia was led by Eron Harris with 21 points and three others in Henderson, Staten and Adrian finished in double figures.

Also much like the first meeting the Longhorns would win the edge on the glass 42-26.

West Virginia took an early lead but the Longhorns would answer both times with Ridley baskets close to the goal and then recapture the lead on a Holmes layup, mirroring what happened in the first meeting with Texas dominating in the paint.

The Mountaineers would recapture the lead heading into the first media timeout after Harris connected three free throw attempts to place the score at 7-6 at the 15:45 mark. Harris would continue his hot early shooting scoring eight of the Mountaineers first 10 points as the two teams would be deadlocked at 10-all at the 13:44 mark in the first half.

Terry Henderson would connect on a four-point play but three quick baskets by the Longhorns would put them back up 17-14 as the first half continued to see-saw between the two teams with the bulk of those points coming inside the paint.

The Longhorns continued to pound the post pushing the lead to 23-16, while the Mountaineers continued to struggle from the field shooting less than 30-percent with 7:28 left in the first half. A Javan Felix three-pointer would push the lead to 28-16, the largest of the half as the Mountaineers struggled to find any consistency on the offensive end of the floor and at the timeout the Longhorns had matched West Virginia's total points with 16 points in the paint.

The lead would swell to 36-20 with a little over three minutes to play in the first half after another three-pointer by Felix, as the Mountaineers continued to struggle on the defensive end. A late run at the end of the first half by the Mountaineers put them down by 11-points entering the break although West Virginia only shot 30 percent from the field, while the Longhorns shot 63 percent from the floor.

The Mountaineers open the second half with five straight points to cut the Longhorns advantage down to 40-34, but Texas would push the lead back out to ten points negating the strong start for West Virginia. The Longhorns would lead 57-43 at the 13:48 mark with Texas continuing to take advantage in the post as well as in transition pushing the ball to get easy baskets.

While shooting 63-percent heading into the break, the Longhorns would be at the 65-percent mark from the field more than eight minutes into the second half controlling the game at that point up 61-46. The Mountaineers would continue to battle however, cutting it as close as 11-points with just under ten minutes left in the game but the Longhorns would continue to answer going into the middle of the lane and attacking the Mountaineers.

The Longhorns would salt away the game from the point. West Virginia will be off until next Saturday when they play host to Baylor.