WVU gets “must win” in Lubbock

LUBBOCK, TX—Finally, the West Virginia Mountaineer Men’s basketball team won their first road game in the conference since 2021 by knocking off Texas Tech 76-61 Wednesday night.

WVU started the game in an 8-0 hole and it appeared to be ugly early. WVU missed its first six shots and had four turnovers in the first four minutes of the game. The Red Raiders had a 15-5 lead with 13 minutes left in the first half.     

Mountaineer coach Bob Huggins decided to replace the entire starting five and all of a sudden play improved. Erik Stevenson made four straight free throws, including two on a technical foul for a 22-21 lead. Tre Mitchell’s three pointer made it 33-28 at halftime.

Stevenson ended up with 16 points and grabbed a career double double. Joe Toussaint scored 14 of his 22 points in the second half. Huggins was quoted as saying the younger guys were really good in practice so he decided to put them in.

The Mountaineers outscored Tech 43-33 in the second half. WVU improved to 12-8, 2-6 in the conference. Tech lost its eighth conference game and is 10-10 overall.     

The Mountaineers return home for an out of conference foe against No. 15 Auburn in the Big 12/ SEC challenge Saturday.

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