West Virginia tangles with TCU in Big 12 showdown
Fort Worth, TX (SportsNetwork.com) – Undefeated TCU welcomes the 17th-ranked West Virginia Mountaineers to Wilkerson-Greines Athletic Center on Saturday to kick off the Big 12 Conference schedule for both programs.
One of only a handful of programs still with an unblemished record heading into the new calendar year, the Horned Frogs have spent the majority of the campaign to this point playing at home. The team has won some very lopsided decisions of late, albeit against considerably weaker competition in order to boost their stats at both ends of the floor.
On Monday, the Frogs entertained Tennessee State at the University Rec Center and demolished the Tigers in a 60-40 final.
Meanwhile, the Mountaineers have been close to perfect, losing just a single game to LSU by a single point, 74-73, during the Big 12/SEC Challenge early last month. Since that setback, WVU has responded with five more wins, the latest being an 82-51 blowout of Virginia Tech at home on Tuesday.
West Virginia is a perfect 4-0 in the all-time series with the Horned Frogs, with the most recent meeting taking place last March and the Mountaineers delivering a lopsided 81-59 decision.
Despite shooting only 38.7 percent from the field in the first half, compared to 55.0 percent for the Hokies, WVU took a 33-30 lead into intermission and then blew the doors off the visitors. The Mountaineers made good on 64.3 percent from the floor and 7-of-11 behind the 3-point line in the second half, all while limiting Tech to just nine total field goals in the frame.
Juwan Staten produced 18 points on 6-of-12 shooting from the field, followed by Gary Browne with 12 points, while Devin Williams came up a point shy of a double-double as he accounted for 11 rebounds. Defensively, the hosts forced VaTech into a staggering 25 turnovers.
Just five wins away from matching their total from all of last season, the Mountaineers having been getting the job done at both ends of the floor. The squad is generating 78.9 ppg, thanks to the efforts of Staten (16.1 ppg), Jonathan Holton (11.0 ppg) and Devin Williams (10.1 ppg), the former also handing out 55 assists and the latter two performers combining to clear more than 14 rebounds per contest. Defensively, WVU has limited opponents to only 60.3 ppg while forcing them into a staggering 23 turnovers per outing.
TCU was all over Tennessee State earlier this week, holding the visitors to only six field goals in the first half and a total of 14 overall, matching the number of turnovers suffered by the Tigers. Kyan Anderson scored 16 points for the Frogs, but he arrived there by shooting only 4-of-14 from the floor and 2- of-11 behind the 3-point line. Trey Zeigler chipped in 10 points and Chris Washburn eight and 12 rebounds, the latter being second only to Kenrich Williams who pulled down 13 boards off the bench.
Anderson, the leading scorer in the last two games for the Horned Frogs and seven times overall in 2014-15, is the lone double-digit scorer on the unit with his 13.4 ppg. He has missed just four of his 49 attempts at the free- throw line and is also tops on the unit with 55 assists and 19 steals, doing everything he possibly can to ensure success for the program.
Like West Virginia, defense has been key for the Frogs as they limit opponents to a meager 33.9 percent shooting from the floor, one of the best marks in all of college basketball, leading to just 53.2 ppg.
Categorized in: NCAA Basketball