LUBBOCK, Texas — Three takeaways from West Virginia’s 81-50 loss at No.18 Texas Tech on Big Monday:
1. Offensive futility
Not a typo: West Virginia reached halftime with three field goals and 14 turnovers.
The playmaking execution looked so nasty that Bob Huggins — typically known for elongated postgame chewings — tried giving his team an extended midgame chewing. The Mountaineers emerged from their locker room for only a few moments of warmups before the second half started.
The Mountaineers finished the night 9-of-39 for 23 percent shooting, the program’s fewest baskets since 1942.
Their 26 total turnovers showed more carelessness than Huggins can stomach. Texas Tech’s stellar defense was aided by WVU ballhandlers making a string of egregiously bad decisions. This team passes with the accuracy of a Dixie cup thrown into a ceiling fan.
“We tried to throw a two-handed chest pass through two guys,” Huggins said.
2. No back-to-backs
West Virginia (10-13, 2-8) still hasn’t won consecutive games since Dec. 22 and Dec. 30, when Jacksonville State and Lehigh were the victims.
The adrenaline rush from upsetting Kansas on Jan. 19 and Oklahoma on Saturday proved unsustainable.
In an encore to scoring 25 points against the Sooners, Brandon Knapper made 1-of-6 and scored five points. While he did not commit a turnover, Knapper was assessed a first-half technical for staring down official Ray Natili after a charging call went against Esa Ahmad.
“We saw Knapp on Saturday and you can’t help but think there’s a lot of potential there, but you can’t be a one-game wonder,” Huggins said.
At the end of it, Texas Tech walk-owns were back-cutting for layups and West Virginia absorbed its second 31-point whipping of 19 days.
“We’ve never got beat like this before — ever,” Huggins said. “Not even the team that won 13 games” in 2012-13.
Texas Tech (18-5, 6-4), which took unwarranted criticism from Huggins for some locker room dancing after last month’s win in Morgantown, earned the right to enjoy a full-on step show with Monday’s blowout.
3. Lost Lubbock
Last year’s game at United Supermarkets Arena saw Wes Harris left-hooking a fan who stormed the court. Monday night one-upped that with Logan Routt ejected for bench-tripping Texas Tech’s Matt Mooney.
Routt’s incident led “SportsCenter,” probably the only way West Virginia achieves such notoriety this season.
NUMBERS
24 — Free throws attempted by Derek Culver on Monday night, the most by a Mountaineer in the modern era, surpassing the 23 that Rod Thorn shot in 1963 against George Washington.
