In what could be viewed as their most important game of the season, West Virginia arguably turned in their most impressive half of the season against TCU.
The Mountaineers put together a complete effort in the first 20 minutes, propelling them to a crucial 73-55 win over the Horned Frogs at the WVU Coliseum in Morgantown.
West Virginia entered Tuesday night with four games left in the regular season and still on the right side of the NCAA Tournament bubble. They knew they needed to win tonight and that showed in the first half.
West Virginia trailed 5-0 but it quickly took a turn in their favor. West Virginia went on an 18-0 run, and then a 23-2 extended run as they locked down defensively and turned it into positive offense. During the run, seven Mountaineers scored, and they didn’t slow down from there. Javon Small scored eight straight points for WVU following the run, while Sencire Harris scored 11 points in the first half, just one point shy of his career-high of 12 points.
Defensively, West Virginia held TCU to shoot 41 percent from the field and go 0-for-7 from beyond the arc. They also forced seven turnovers and won the rebounding battle while they had three blocks and four steals in the first half, holding a 42-27 lead at the break.
West Virginia continued their hot start into the second half as two of their first three buckets of the half were from beyond the arc, starting 7-for-15 from distance after they didn’t make more than six in each of their last two games. On the night, WVU finished the game shooting 11-for-26 from three, making at least 10 3-pointers in a game for the first time since Jan. 4 against Oklahoma State.
West Virginia seemed to be in full control of the game, leading by as many as 20 points but that lead quickly dwindled. After leading by 12 at the beginning of the half, the Horned Frogs would later go on a 10-0 run to cut WVU's lead to as few as nine with 5:33 to play.
The Mountaineers would answer that run with a jumper from Small and then a 3-pointer from Joe Yesufu, to put them back into a comfortable position with time winding down.
Harris ultimately recorded a career-high in points as he hit two free throws with 2:22 to play, while the Mountaineers shut down TCU.
WVU held TCU to 39 percent from the field, going 3-for-14 from beyond the arc. WVU forced 12 total turnovers and had six total blocked shots.
Small led WVU in scoring with 23 points, while Yesufu added 14 and Harris added 13.
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