MORGANTOWN — West Virginia became the latest victim of Houston’s blitz defense.
Making matters worse, the 10th-ranked Cougars also proved they can play some offense, too.
The Mountaineers’ two-game road winning streak came to a screeching halt inside the Fertitta Center on Wednesday, as Houston forced WVU into a barrage of tough shots and strange turnovers for a 70-54 victory.
The Mountaineers (12-4, 3-2 Big 12) had a first-half positive and one in the second half.
Javon Small, who came into the game as the Big 12’s leading scorer, scored all 13 of his points in the first half. He also added eight assists for the game.
WVU center Amani Hansberry scored all 16 of his points in the second half, as Small was held to just three shots after halftime, missing all of them.
“I really thought the way the game played out that we did a lot of really good things,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said on his radio postgame show. “We knew going into it that turnovers would be a big key. We only had 12, but all of them it seemed like resulted in points. We had 12 turnovers and they had 24 points off those turnovers. They were really efficient in taking advantage of anytime we gave them a loose ball.”
Small knocked down a trio of early 3-pointers and another three from freshman Jonathan Powell gave WVU an 18-13 lead seven minutes into the game.
That’s when Houston (13-3, 5-0) simply took over.
On defense, the Cougars began to run constant double-teams at Small whenever WVU tried to set a screen for him.
The Mountaineers found no room, either, when the ball left Small’s hands and were usually left to force up a tough shot seconds before the shot clock was set to run out.
Turnovers began to mount up — seven in the first half that led to 14 Houston points — including miscues that saw passes getting knocked away by Cougars’ defenders who had their backs turned to the play.
On offense, Houston had Mr. Outside in Emanuel Sharp and Mr. Inside with J’Wan Roberts.
Those two combined for 29 points in a first half that saw Houston take a 40-27 lead at the break.
Sharp was 3 of 5 from 3-point range over the first 20 minutes, including one from at least 28 feet away. He did enter the game as a 48% shooter from beyond the arc.
On the inside Roberts dominated one-on-one possessions in the post, and found the bank was quite open down low.
He also killed the Mountaineers on pick-and-roll plays, where he was again one-on-one near the rim.
“Our game plan going into it was to play (Roberts) one-on-one,” DeVries said. “He made us pay for it. We doubled him twice and they hit threes on both of them. That puts you in a really tough spot, because he’s a real good passer.”
That all led to a second half that saw WVU go toe-to-toe with the Cougars before simply running out of gas.
It began with a quick 8-0 run by the Mountaineers that saw Toby Okani and Powell nail 3-pointers.
Houston countered that with two open threes by L.J. Cryer that ran Houston’s lead back up to 49-36 with 15:54 remaining.
WVU made one final run using Hansberry on the perimeter. The 6-foot-8 center hit three 3-pointers that cut Houston’s lead to 51-48 with 12:34 left, but he picked up his fourth foul four minutes later.
“I thought we were much more aggressive and did some better things defensively in the second half,” DeVries said. “That led to better offense and Amani gave us a big spark in the second half.
“Every time we got back in there, it seemed like there was a big turnover that didn’t even give us a shot at getting the ball up at the rim. Those are the things that are just killers whenever you play a team like this on their home floor.”
Even before Hanberry picked up the fourth foul, Houston had taken the lead back up to 60-48.
Ja’Vier Francis began what ended up as a 14-0 run with a follow-up dunk and then Milos Uzan scored a traditional 3-point play.
Terrance Arceneaux added a 3-pointer and so did Uzan, and any upset bid by WVU was put to rest.
The Mountaineers hit two scoring droughts in the game, going 5:24 of the first half without a point and then went a stretch of 6:34 of the second half without scoring.
Roberts led Houston with 22 points, while Cryer added 18. Sharp finished with 14 points.
WVU will find the schedule gets no easier when it gets back to Morgantown. The Mountaineers will host No. 2 Iowa State at 5 p.m. Saturday.
Notes
** WVU guard Tucker DeVries missed his eighth consecutive game with an injury. If he appears in a game the rest of the season, he would not be eligible to apply for a medical redshirt.
** Houston has now won 32 consecutive games at the Fertitta Center, which is the nation’s longest home winning streak.
** WVU’s 54 points was its season low.
** WVU freshman guard K.J. Tenner returned to the rotation after missing two games with an injury.
** WVU is now 3-1 against AP Top 25-ranked opponents this season.
