#14 West Virginia Defeats Texas Tech In Lubbock, 78-67

A balanced effort in Lubbock tonight gave #14 West Virginia (14-1) a victory over Texas Tech (10-5) by a score of 78-67.

The Mountaineer defense stifled Texas Tech early in the first half, with the Red Raiders going eight minutes without a made field goal. However, a 10-0 run by Texas Tech, capped off by two three pointers from Todddrick Gotcher, turned a 23-13 West Virginia lead into a 23-23 tie with six minutes left in the half.

Gary Browne picked up where he left off in the TCU game, scoring 9 points in the first eleven minutes. Juwan Staten looked a little rusty, making only 1-8 in the half for 3 points. Foul trouble to Jonathan Holton and Devin Williams, along with Elijah Macon being out with bruised ribs, led to BillyDee Williams getting his first minutes in a while. At the break, West Virginia held a 32-29 advantage. The Mountaineers won the turnover margin in the first half 14-2, but only had 7 points off those turnovers.

As they have seemingly all season, West Virginia wore down another opponent. A 3 point halftime lead turned into a 15 point lead midway through the second half. Staten seemed to get his feet back under him, and had 13 second half points. Texas Tech got to within 8 at the 8:43 mark and again at the 2:20 mark, but that was as close as it would get.

The Mountaineers forced 22 Texas Tech turnovers, while only committing 8.

West Virginia was led by Juwan Staten with 16 points and 4 rebounds. Devin Williams added 14 points and 6 rebounds. Daxter Miles and Gary Browne had 12 each, and Jevon Carter had 11 points and 4 steals.

Devaugntah Williams paced Texas Tech with 21 on 8-11 shooting. Toddrick Gotcher added 14 off the bench.

Some notes:

• West Virginia was losing the rebound battle most of the night, but the final total was 35-35.
  
• The Big 12 does the Mountaineers a HUGE favor with this Saturday/Monday Texas trip. Now, West Virginia only has to make two more trips to the Lonestar State, and they're over a month apart.
• Jevon Carter showed some really nice vision tonight, finding the open man in the right situations. He also handled the ball well against the press. He's your point guard of the future.
  
• West Virginia's defense forced three Texas Tech shot clock violations.
• Jonathan Holton took two threes, and airballed them both.
• The announcers tonight, Dave Armstrong and Bryndon Manzer, weren't great, but they were much better than the local TCU announcers on Saturday. Those guys made the "Boom Goes the Dynamite" kid look like Bob Costas.
  

Up next for the Mountaineers is a Saturday home contest with #17 Iowa State. The Cyclones will be looking for some retribution in Morgantown after their 102-77 beatdown by the Mountaineers last season. The game tips at 8:00 PM and will be televised by ESPN2.