Texas Longhorns Dump The Mountaineers In Austin, 88-71

Just about the only thing missing from this game to replicate the first meeting was the hangover from a heartbreaking close loss a couple of days earlier. Remove that factor, change the venue and the results were pretty similar to the first time the Mountaineers met and lost to Texas in Morgantown.

West Virginia struggled mightily in stopping the Longhorns inside, allowing them to shoot the ball at over a 60% clip for most of the game (UT finished with a 58% shooting percentage). Combine that with a 42-26 rebounding edge to the Longhorns plus shoot less than 40% from the floor yourselves and you have a recipe for disaster.

All five Longhorns scored in double figures, led by Felix's 18 and Shipley's 17. Despite the lopsided score, WVU also had five players in double figures, led by Eron Harris' 21. Juwan Staten wasn't his usual self, yet still managed to contribute 14 to the cause. The most telling numbers from his stat line though, was the fact he only managed to get to the foul line 4 times.

Nathan Adrian knocked down four treys for his 12 points, while Terry Henderson and Gary Browne chipped in 10 apiece. The rest of the Mountaineers combined for 4 points.

The loss dropped the Mountaineers to sixth in the Big 12 standings with another tough stretch coming up to finish the season. With five games left, three games are against tough opponents looking for revenge, plus the finale with Kansas looming.

WVU now gets a full week off to dwell on this game and hopefully use it as fuel for motivation to finish the season strong and make some kind of post-season run to the NCAA tournament. #KeepHopeAlive

The Mountaineers are back in action next Saturday against Baylor in Morgantown.