TCU was hyping up its Big Monday match up with the WVU basketball team for a while. It was one of their biggest home games of the year.
The Mountaineers couldn’t keep up with the home team and suffered another road defeat. The Horned Frogs won in convincing fashion, 82-73. This was the first win against West Virginia in program history. This was head coach Jamie Dixon’s first win against the WVU basketball team since taking over the reigns at TCU.
Dixon had a winning record against Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers from his days coaching at Pitt. He used some of his past deception to help his team rally against a struggling WVU basketball squad. The Horned Frogs definitely had the home court advantage as they committed 10 less fouls than the Mountaineers.
In front of a loud and proud crowd of 7,368, TCU went to the line 33 times and made 23 free throws. The Horned Frogs also matched up well the Mountaineers on defense, forcing 12 WVU turnovers and creating five steals. Jevon Carter created five steals, himself.
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Like in most of their other losses this season, the Mountaineers struggled mightily in the second half. They went several minutes without scoring on a few occasions and couldn’t get a hand up quick enough on defense. TCU shot the ball well and shot nearly 40 percent from behind-the-arc.
Leading the Mountaineers was Carter with 16 points, though he was 0 for 6 on 3-pointers and a measly 6 of 18 from the field. Sagaba Konate had 14 points and continued his interior reign with four blocks. Three other players reached double figures with Daxter Miles scoring 12, Lamont West scoring 11 and Wesley Harris adding 10.
The game marked Teddy Allen’s return to the rotation, though he only saw 12 minutes and scored seven points. Esa Ahmad was in the game for 17 minutes but was shut out in the scoring department. Alex Robinson led TCU with 17 points and Desmond Bane scored 15.
Konate met his match inside as TCU’s Vlad Brodziansky had five blocks. The Horned Frogs also beat the WVU basketball team on the glass, 46-40. Kenrich Williams had 14 rebounds and Konate had eight for West Virginia.
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The Mountaineers have an extended break to right the ship and work on these scoring miscues before a home match up with Kentucky on Saturday. The primetime game will be preceded by ESPN’s College Gameday coming to the WVU Coliseum in the morning.