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First Half
— The Smoking Musket (@smokingmusket) December 11, 2020
Nice.
U12 timeout.
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) December 11, 2020
Mountaineers on a 9-0 run to take an 11-6 lead. pic.twitter.com/e4iJgWDGlr
The cardboard cutout in Section 25 Row C Seat 13 is WVU’s 4th leading scorer so far today. And they just won a free Papa John’s pizza!
— Randy Gyorko (@GooseGyorko) December 11, 2020
Huggs is pissed
— Not Tony Caridi (@fauxcaridi) December 11, 2020
oscar for the love of christ, dunk
— The Smoking Musket (@smokingmusket) December 11, 2020
McNeil, Bridges & Cottrell are combined 6-for-8 shooting.
— West By God Virginia - Wear A Mask! (@WestByGodWV) December 11, 2020
The rest of the team is 0-for-20.
Five of the top six in #WVU's rotation (McBride, Culver, Tshiebwe, Sherman, Matthews) are a combined 0-for-21 at the moment.
— Chris Anderson (@CMAnderson247) December 11, 2020
Zero makes. 21 attempts. pic.twitter.com/LQJBBbbWff
I would love to be in Huggs locker room right now. Going to be a good one
— Nathan Adrian (@Njadrian_11) December 11, 2020
When you’re just trying to enjoy your Friday afternoon and you realize WVU is losing at half pic.twitter.com/WvZVyebUkx
— WVU Barstool (@WVUBarstool) December 11, 2020
Let's put WVU game in perspective. WVU has 12 more shorts than NTS, turned the Green over 12 times and still down by 8. Shooting only 25.7%, Culver 0-4, Tshiebwe 0-5, Sherman 1-7, McBride & Matthews 1-5. Meanwhile NTS shooting layup after layup.
— Bob Hertzel (@bhertzel) December 11, 2020
I feel bad for those cardboard cutouts having to sit through the first half of this WVU basketball performance. They did nothing to deserve this.
— Patrick Southern (@patricksouthern) December 11, 2020
Not a great first half for the Mountaineers. The improved shooting we’ve all heard about is still not here and the West Virginia Mountaineers find themselves down 29-21 to North Texas at half. It looks exactly like you would expect a 3 PM Friday game being played with no one in the Coliseum. West Virginia shot 25% from the floor and only 12% from behind the arc while North Texas is shooting almost 60% from the floor and 33% from deep.
The Mountaineer big men, Derek Culver and Oscar Tshiebwe are 0-9 with no points, no free throws!, but 12 boards. Sean McNeil led all Mountaineers with 7 points at the half. Javion Hamlet led North Texas with 9 points on 4-7 shooting. North Texas ended the first half on a 21-4 run!
Second Half
WVU quickly retakes the lead, 31-29, with a 10-0 run to open the second half
— Cody Nespor (@CodyNespor) December 11, 2020
D.C. converts the And 1️⃣ to give the Mountaineers a 31-29 lead!#HailWV pic.twitter.com/s7595jIZyN
— WVU Men's Basketball (@WVUhoops) December 11, 2020
WVU opened with an 18-0 run to take a 39-29 lead.
#WVU pressure defense has keyed a second half resurgence. Mountaineers have forced 14 TOs and lead 42-35 with 11:01 to play.
— Blue Gold News (@BlueGoldNews) December 11, 2020
Osabuohien has provided more for #WVU than Tshiebwe through the first 6 games and I don’t even think it’s close.
— Schuyler Callihan (@Callihan_) December 11, 2020
The Mountaineers came out in the second half and looked like a team that got lit into at halftime. Derek Culver played like a big man should play. The Mountaineers held North Texas to 21 points in the 2nd half.
Game Notes
Despite being held scoreless in the first half, Derek Culver came out like a man possessed in the second half. Culver scored 7 points in 12 minutes of action in the second half before taking a breather. He finished with 10 points and 10 boards.
Oscar did not see gametime until 6 minutes left in the 2nd. He did not score.
The refs put the Mountaineers in the bonus early, 10 minutes into the second half.
Taz Sherman continues to be a hot hand off the bench.