Texas Tech will try to shake off its worst loss of the season with a trip to West Virginia on Saturday in Morgantown, W.Va., in a game loaded with emotional connections.
The Red Raiders tumbled 81-69 at home against Texas on Tuesday, falling behind by 29 points in the second half. They showed some fight to make the final score more respectable, but not enough to ease the sting of a loss that left Texas Tech in a fifth-place tie in the Big 12 Conference.
“I’m embarrassed for our team and felt like Texas just got after us at the beginning of the game and beat us,” Red Raiders coach Grant McCasland said. “They physically dominated the game. I didn’t do a good enough job coaching to give us an advantage.”
Texas Tech (19-9, 8-7 Big 12) has a chance to rebound from that loss with back-to-back road games against the two teams tied for last place in the conference, but West Virginia’s home crowd figures to have some added incentive to get loud.
Red Raiders guard Joe Toussaint transferred from the Mountaineers after helping lead them to the NCAA Tournament last season and has been a vital cog for Texas Tech. He enters the game averaging 12.3 points, leads the Red Raiders with 119 assists and is shooting 85.8 percent from the free-throw line.
He has fit in well with a team that McCasland revamped through the transfer portal and has been one of the Big 12’s biggest surprises this season.
“They’re solid defensively,” said West Virginia interim coach Josh Eilert, an assistant while Toussaint was in blue and gold. “They really get up in you, and of course, we all know who Joe Toussaint is and how he plays. He’s a bulldog out there on the floor defensively, so I’m sure he’s going to come back to Morgantown with a chip on his shoulder and try and wreak havoc.”
West Virginia (9-19, 4-11) has struggled most of this season. The Mountaineers bring up the rear in most major statistical categories in the league — most notably scoring offense (69.4 points per game) and scoring defense (75.1 ppg allowed).
West Virginia nearly pulled off a massive comeback in its last outing, erasing a 25-point deficit in the second half at Kansas State to force overtime. But the Wildcats survived the extra session for a 94-90 win.
WVU owns a notable home win this season: 91-85 against Kansas on Jan. 20, when the Mountaineers connected on 12 of 21 3-pointers to match their season-best scoring output.
–Field Level Media