WVU set for another road clash at Texas Tech
No. 8 West Virginia (12-1, 1-0) is back on the road again tonight for a 9 p.m. match up with a Texas Tech (11-2, 0-1) team that is much different than it’s been in the past.
First-year head coach Chris Beard inherited the program after the departure of Tubby Smith to Memphis. The one-time Red Raiders assistant was the head coach at Arkansas-Little Rock a year ago leading Trojans to the second round of the NCAA Tournament.
Beard has installed a different brand of basketball than what the Red Raiders used under Smith and a lot of that comes from the time he spent with legendary head coach Bob Knight during his first stint at Texas Tech, according to head coach Bob Huggins.
“I was only around coach Knight for ten minutes and he’s influenced me. I can’t imagine ten years,” Huggins joked. “There are a lot of ways to play the game.”
“They’ve done a good job of getting really good shots. They’ve done a great job of running that offense. And their length is more of a factor defensively,” he added.
The Red Raiders are coming off a 63-56 loss on the road to Iowa State, where Texas Tech held a first half advantage before giving way to the Cyclones in the second half. A large part of that was that Iowa State was able to score in transition in the second half as well as hit shots.
Four players for the Red Raiders average in double figures with junior guard Keenan Evans leading the way at 13.5 points per game, while senior forward Anthony Livingston (13), junior forward Zach Smith (11.8) and senior forward Aaron Ross (11.5) also are in that club. Smith has developed into one of the most athletic players in the Big 12 Conference and is a mismatch in the post.
“Those guys are a year older now. They’ve been through this and understand how hard the league is,” Huggins said of the Red Raiders.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers put together one of their most complete efforts of the season opening the Big 12 Conference slate on the road with a dominating 92-75 win over Oklahoma State.
While West Virginia does have some impressive wins on the resume, Huggins wasn’t quick to anoint the performance against the Cowboys as the most convincing yet.
“Illinois beat Ohio State and they’re 11-4 and I thought we played pretty well that game,” he said.
One of the major areas that West Virginia has shown improvement over the past couple seasons is the ability to pass the ball in transition without turning it over.
While the Mountaineers had traditionally remained out west between back-to-back road games, the team returned to Morgantown following the Oklahoma State win because of the longer layoff between games.
“The worst thing they can do is lay around all day,” Huggins said.
While his status has yet to be determined for tonight, Huggins said that redshirt junior Elijah Macon practiced Sunday after missing the Oklahoma State game due to a knee injury.