West Virginia beaten by UCF 72-59
West Virginia was controlled from start to finish falling to UCF 72-59 Tuesday night.
The loss drops the Mountaineers to 7-12 overall and 2-4 in the Big 12 Conference and continues the road woes for the program this season.
Forward Josiah Harris led West Virginia with 15 points and 8 rebounds, while point guard Kerr Kriisa added 9 points and 5 assists, guard Noah Farrakhan added 8 points and Akok Akok finished with 7.
The Mountaineers were held to just 36-percent from the floor and and UCF took advantage of turnovers scoring 18 points off miscues.
The Knights opened with a 6-0 lead over the first two minutes of the game which forced a quick timeout by head coach Josh Eilert. The Mountaineers hit their first basket at the 16:51 mark when Kriisa connected on a three-ball to cut the early deficit to 8-3.
UCF would hold a 10-7 edge after a basket by Akok with under 14-minutes remaining the first half as the pace started to slow some after a torrid start.
Turnovers were a problem early in this one, as West Virginia allowed half of their first 14 points from the Knights to come off miscues.
West Virginia would trail 19-7 after another three-ball and basket from the Knights as the Mountaineers struggled to move the ball
The sloppy play on offense and struggles to get set on defense due to turnovers defined the first 12-minutes of this game which allowed UCF to build a 25-10 lead. A Slazinski three-ball would cut the lead down to 27-14 with 5:35 remaining in the half.
After falling behind 34-16, the Mountaineers would use a 8-3 run to cut the deficit to just 13-points heading into the halftime break.
But the start of the second half would see UCF to extend the lead to 45-27 at the 16:25 mark again forcing Eilert to use a timeout before the first media break.
After falling behind 49-30, the Mountaineers were able to cut into the deficit to make it 49-34 but still had an uphill climb with just 11:53 left.
Battle was then ejected at the 10:52 mark after a pair of technical fouls with UCF taking a 55-34 lead as frustrations boiled over. And from there, the Knights were able to keep the Mountaineers at a comfortable distance until the 4 minute mark where the lead would be trimmed down to 64-53 in large part due to the shooting of Harris.
The sophomore scored 12 of his points in the second half to put West Virginia within striking distance down the stretch run of the game.
But the Knights would salt the game away down the stretch for the 72-59 win and gave the Mountaineers their fourth loss in six games in the Big 12.
The Mountaineers will once again hit the road for their next matchup 2 p.m. Saturday at Oklahoma State. That game will be televised by ESPN+.
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