WVU’s backs are against the wall after loss to Texas Tech

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There can be moral victories in sports...depending on who you ask.

In West Virginia’s case, Wednesday night’s narrow loss to No. 11 Texas Tech inside the WVU Coliseum can hardly be looked at as one when considering the stats and circumstances.

The Mountaineers led the Red Raiders by as much as nine during the first half and had several missed opportunities to dig Texas Tech’s hole deeper but turnovers, offensive struggles and missed free throws prevented that from happening as the Red Raiders pulled off a thrilling 62-59 win.

In fact, Texas Tech’s leading scorer in sophomore Jarrett Culver was held scoreless and attempted just one shot during the first half and committed three fouls as well. He finished the game with a team-leading 18 points.

Overall, West Virginia turned the ball over 22 times which marked the fourth game this season in which the Mountaineers hit the 20-plus mark in that department.

At the free throw line, West Virginia went just 18-of-32, making it the third game this season the team shot below 60 percent from the line.

“Honestly, (Wednesday night’s free throw stats) right there shows you how talented we are and how skilled we are at all positions because with those stats, it was only a one-point game,” freshman Derek Culver said.

“Now imagine if we make those free throws and cut at least half of those turnovers over and capitalize. Just imagine what the point deficit would be. We’re a young team and we have things to figure out.”

There’s nothing that West Virginia can do now to change the outcome of Wednesday night’s Big 12 opener.

Now with an 8-5 overall record and 0-1 mark in Big 12 play, West Virginia finds itself in a position it has not been in for a while.

Wednesday night’s loss was the earliest West Virginia had lost its fifth game during a season since the 2013-2014 campaign when the team suffered its fifth loss of the season on Dec. 22, 2013 against Purdue. The Mountaineers played in the NIT that season and have played in the NCAA Tournament every year since.

There was no NIT or NCAA Tournament for the Mountaineers prior to that 2013-2014 season in which the team finished just 13-19 during the 2012-2013 campaign which was also the program's first season in the Big 12.

This year’s squad has been compared to those 2012-13 and 2013-14 teams and are long shots for the NCAA Tournament.

“Our back’s against the wall,” head coach Bob Huggins said. “We have put ourselves in this situation where our backs are against the wall and historically here and other then the one year, when our back was against the wall, we came out fighting like hell.”

Whether this year’s team can do just that with their backs against the wall remains to be seen and at this point, it’s tough to count the three-point loss to No. 11 Texas Tech as a moral victory after a string of close wins over non-Power 5 teams. It’s past that point.

“The whole point was to win the game and that’s not what we did,” Culver said following his second straight game with double-digit points. “We didn’t do that, so with that being said, I can really care less about what the performance I had. As a whole, we didn’t do what we were supposed to do.”

What the loss to the Red Raiders can do, though, is serve as a learning lesson for the team.

Whether Wednesday night showcased the team’s progress or a bad Texas Tech performance, the truth of the matter is West Virginia was very close to earning an upset victory, but cost itself with some of the same issues that has downed the team throughout this season.

The effort looked to be there and with less mistakes, the Mountaineers made find themselves in a similar position as the season and conference play go on and on the verge of a big win like they were against Texas Tech.

What Huggins wants to see out of his players, though, is more commitment and discipline, something he has harped on them throughout the year.

“Everybody wants to win,” Huggins said following the loss to Texas Tech. “Do they really hate to lose...despise losing? (It) doesn’t look like it.”

Tough, back-to-back road games against Texas and Kansas State await West Virginia and now it’s up to the Mountaineers to clean up their mistakes and issues if they have any hope at getting their backs off the wall.

“I feel like we just have to keep trusting and believe in ourselves,” Culver said. “(Huggins) has given us the best game plan and the best route to defeat the teams that we’re up against but we just got to stop falling short and when it’s time to dig in and capitalize on all the little minuscule things, we have to take advantage of them.”

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