West Virginia Defeats TCU 95-87 To Finish Three Game Road Trip Unbeaten

The Mountaineers beat the Horned Frogs in Fort Worth tonight despite committing 33 fouls and 20 turnovers. They remain unbeaten in conference play.

This game will not be remembered as pretty despite WVU shooting the ball as well as they have in recent memory, finishing at 58% from the field and 53% from three. They also barely edged out the Frogs in both turnover and rebounding margin, finishing +4 and +5, respectively.

While WVU got out to an early lead, that they had managed to squander by halftime, the story of the game was the second team guards. Jaysean Paige once again led the team in scoring with 20 and was complemented by Tarik Phillip who added 18. Jaysean hit a three at the 10:13 mark that put WVU up 5 with about 10 minutes to play. The game felt safe from that point forward. Chauncey Collins led TCU with 20 points on 4/8 from three.

This game, once again, cannot be discounted as a conference road win, but adds fuel to the fire for anyone worrying about whether or not the pressing style that WVU uses will still be effective against well coached and talented teams that know what to expect.

WVU looks to stay unbeaten in the conference as they take on Oklahoma State at 1:00pm on Saturday, January 10.

A Few Brief Notes:

1. The Mountaineers had 4 players with 4 fouls at the 10:13 mark. Of those players, only Devin Williams and Elijah Macon fouled out.

2. This was the second game in a row in which a WVU player was whistled for a technical foul for hanging on the rim. Tonight it was Tarik Phillip.

3. Brandon Watkins was called for a flagrant 1 foul for what looked like a hit to a TCU player in transition. While he was a bit chippy throughout his 17 minutes of action, he added 5 boards and 2 blocks and looked like he could be a valuable rim protector if he can find more minutes.

4. WVU had 21 fouls called on them in the first half. The WVU faithful may well need to get used to some LONG games going forward.