MORGANTOWN — In a season comprised of dozens of storylines, there may have been no one shot that has come back to haunt No. 13 West Virginia more than a corner 3-pointer with 1.8 seconds left against Texas.
It was more than a month ago when Texas guard Andrew Jones hauled in that pass from teammate Courtney Ramey and nailed the shot to secure a 72-70 victory.
It was a game the Mountaineers (14-6, 7-4 Big 12) seemed destined to win. WVU held a lead for 33 minutes, which included a 70-65 advantage with just 1:28 remaining.
In comparison, the only dagger from Texas that meant more in WVU history came from Kenton Paulino in the 2006 NCAA tournament.
Knowing what we do now, if West Virginia could have held on for a win — or if Jones’ shot had simply rattled in and out — the Mountaineers’ place in the Big 12 standings would look much different today.
Despite getting swept by Oklahoma, WVU would still have a half-game lead over the Sooners for second place, rather than sitting in fifth place.
After getting past first-place Baylor, it truly comes down to a game of inches for everybody else in the Big 12.
“We’d certainly like to beat as many teams as we can,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “Not just for seeding in the Big 12 tournament, but also for the NCAA tournament.”
WVU travels to the Frank Erwin Center at 3 p.m. Saturday for the rematch with the Longhorns (13-5, 7-4) in a game that could help the Mountaineers climb up the standings.
Texas travels to No. 9 Oklahoma on Thursday, in what could be an opportunity for the Sooners to wrap up another season sweep of a Big 12 opponent.
Either way, WVU will either face a Texas team on a 3-game winning streak or one desperate to pick up a crucial home win.
The Longhorns will look slightly different from that day on Jan. 9.
Senior Jase Febres has returned from knee surgery to add an additional guard into Texas’ depth.
Febres averaged 9.3 points a game in 23 games last season before the injury cost him the rest of the year.
He has 176 career 3-pointers and is a career 35.4% shooter from behind the arc.
Since his return, Febres has averaged 3.5 points per game over four games. Texas is 3-1 during that stretch.
As for West Virginia, Saturday’s rematch will be the first of three games in the state of Texas.
WVU will travel from Austin to TCU (Forth Worth) and then to No. 2 Baylor (Waco) in the span of five days.
WVU will not travel back to Morgantown in between any of the games.
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