The West Virginia Mountaineers had to be feeling pretty good after almost upsetting 9th ranked Oklahoma State on Saturday, but poor shooting doomed the Mountaineers against the Longhorns on Monday night in Morgantown. Â Texas rode a 19 point performance by Javan Felix and a double-double by Cameron Ridley to beat West Virginia 80-69. Â The Longhorns improved to 13-4 on the season while the Mountaineers fell to 10-7.
Turning Point Of The Game.Â
This one came pretty early on. The Longhorns had a 29-25 lead with less than 5 minutes to go in the 1st half. The Longhorns went on a 13-2 run to end the half with a 14 point lead. They were able to keep the Mountaineers at arms-length for the rest of the 2nd half to get the double digit win.
Player Of The Game
Javan Felix
Felix had 19 points and only 2 free throws attempts. His floater kept falling for him and when it does, he can’t be stopped. Honorable Mention has to go to Cameron Ridley. He is a beast down low and he understands that now. Note to Rick Barnes: Â Keep feeding Ridley in the low post and good things will happen.
EpilogueÂ
This was a huge win. HUGE win for the Texas Longhorns men’s basketball team. Right now, there are 5 teams in the Big 12 ranked in the top 25. Texas Tech and TCU are clearly the two bottom teams. That leaves Kansas State, West Virginia and Texas to fight for that potential 6th Big 12 spot in the tournament. I’m not sold that a 10-team league will earn 7 bids to the NCAA tournament so it’s important to beat the teams at your level. They notched a big win on the road and have the rest of the week to rest up for Iowa State on Saturday at the Frank Erwin Center. The Cyclones are a very good basketball team which means the Longhorns can get a quality win for their NCAA tournament resume if they pull off a win.
