West Virginia Defeats TCU 78-67 In Foul Ridden Basketball Game

In a game that saw 61 total fouls called, West Virginia prevailed 78-67 over Texas Christian.

West Virignia was already at a disadvantage when it was announced before tip off that star Juwan Staten wasn't going to be available for today's game, due to an illness.

Not having Juwan Staten showed in the first half as WVU shot just 35% (13/37) while TCU shot 43% (9/21). The Horned Frogs also shot nearly three times the free throws that the Mountaineers shot in the first half. TCU ended the half with 21 free throw attempts (only making 13) to WVU's six.

In total, 26 fouls were called in the first half and WVU only trailed 32-30. Damage control.

A 5-0 Horned Frogs run in the first couple seconds of the second half was quickly nulled by an 8-0 run of their own by the Mountaineers where WVU took its first lead of the game with 17:12 remaining.

In the end, the Mountaineers pulled away from the Horned Frogs much in part to out rebounding TCU 24-13 in the second half. WVU out rebounded TCU 48-37 in the game (each team had 24 rebounds in the first half).

In the absence of Juwan Staten, Gary Browne stepped up to lead WVU with 16 points. Devin Williams followed with 14 points of his own while Jaysean Paige rounded out the top three Mountaineers scorers with 10 points.

WVU improves to 13-1 on the season and 7-2 all time in the state of Texas. The Mountaineers will face the Texas Tech Red Raiders in Lubbock, Texas on Monday night at 7pm. The game can be seen on ESPNU.