No. 20 West Virginia loses in overtime against a determined, Bamba-less Texas team

The West Virginia Mountaineers (22-9, 11-7 Big 12) dropped their season finale against the Texas Longhorns (18-13, 8-10 Big 12) in Austin, 87-79 in overtime. With the loss to the Longhorns, the Mountaineers are once again tied for second in-conference with the Texas Tech Red Raiders, who will play TCU later this afternoon.

West Virginia and Texas traded shots throughout the first half, with the Mountaineers taking a 42-40 advantage into the half despite the Longhorns shooting 61% from the field. Conventional wisdom would tell you there’s no way Texas would be able to keep that success rate rolling through the final 20 minutes, right? Wrong.

The Longhorns did shoot slightly worse from the field in the second half, but they were still able to build the game’s largest lead of seven points midway through the half. The Mountaineers battled back, and with six seconds left in the game Jevon Carter took the ball coast-to-coast for a game-tying layup.

Texas owned the five minute overtime period, outscoring the Mountaineers 15-7 and effectively playing themselves off the NCAA bubble.

Lamont West led the Mountaineers off the bench with 15 points, 4 rebounds. Sagaba Konate turned in 14 points, 8 rebounds and only one block. Carter finished with 12 points, 6 assists. Esa Ahmad and Beetle Bolden both finished with 10 points.

All eyes now turn to Texas Tech’s matchup with TCU. A Texas Tech loss will give the Mountaineers the No. 2 seed in the Big 12 Conference tournament. A win by the Red Raiders will bump West Virginia down to the No. 3 seed.