MORGANTOWN — West Virginia scored an imperfect 10 Monday night.
The Mountaineers, challenged all season when playing away from Morgantown, fell to 0-10 on the season away from home following an 81-65 loss against TCU inside Schollmaier Arena.
Aside from a quick start by WVU (8-16, 3-8 Big 12), the Horned Frogs dominated with a flurry of points in the paint and easy buckets.
None of that may have been the worst part for the Mountaineers. In a season riddled by roster issues, WVU may have been hit with some more.
With 2:04 remaining in the game, guards Noah Farrakhan and Kerr Kriisa both were injured on the same play.
Farrakhan slipped and severely twisted his right ankle while trying to make a move on the wing and immediately went down.
The ball was loose out toward midcourt, where Kriisa tried to tip it to a teammate and TCU forward Micah Peavy landed hard on Kriisa’s right shoulder as he attempted to dive for the ball, too.
Both players had to be helped off the floor.
In his radio postgame show, WVU head coach Josh Eilert hinted that both players could be OK.
“First impression, you talk to the trainers, it doesn’t seem like it was nearly as bad as what it probably looked,” Eilert said. “I was a little worried with Noah. Kerr has had shoulder injuries that he’s fought over his career.
“Noah’s issue doesn’t seem to be nearly as bad as what it probably looked on the floor. I was worried that it might be an Achilles with the way he went down. Hopefully it’s just a light ankle sprain.”
West Virginia’s travel woes do not all fall on Eilert. Truth is, this program hasn’t been competitive in road games since the 2020-21 season.
Since then, WVU is just 3-24 in true road games under Eilert and former head coach Bob Huggins.
The usual suspects were in play for WVU, from TCU (17-7, 6-5) forcing 19 turnovers — a season-high for the Mountaineers — and then turning those into 26 points.
“It was the absolute key to the game,” Eilert said. “If we don’t take care of the ball and control this game on the offensive end, it’s going to be a long night for us.
“When you turn it over 19 times and they get 26 points off turnovers, that’s the game right there.”
The Horned Frogs, the No. 1 team in the country in fast-break points, had 18 of those, too.
The biggest thing was WVU’s lack of defense.
TCU got four players in double figures and the Horned Frogs finished with 44 points in the paint.
TCU shot 48.4% (31 of 64) from the field and Trevian Tennyson finished with four 3-pointers to go along with his 14 points.
“We didn’t have it tonight in any way, shape or form,” Eilert said. “That pressure really bothered us and we couldn’t overcome that.”
WVU has now lost five of its last six games. A two-game swing through the state of Texas produced two defeats by a combined 52 points against Texas and the Horned Frogs.
WVU’s struggles on the offensive end came after taking an early 10-5 lead.
After that, the Mountaineers went the next 6:20 without a point and TCU held the lead for the final 33 minutes of the game.
TCU’s largest lead was 22 points.
WVU center Jesse Edwards got into early foul trouble and struggled. He finished just 1 of 6 shooting and scored six points. He was also whistled for two Flagrant 1 fouls after coming into contact with TCU players above the neck on two separate plays.
The offense came from RaeQuan Battle, who finished with 21 points, his first game with more than 20 points since Jan. 20 against Kansas.
Quinn Slazinski added 15 points, five rebounds and five assists.
