MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Having spent the first 39 minutes of the game watching Texas Tech guard Mac McClung score at will, West Virginia came up with just enough of a defensive effort at the right time Monday night.
WVU guard Deuce McBride hit the final shot in the Mountaineers’ 88-87 victory over the Red Raiders with six seconds left.
In those final seconds, McClung, who finished with 30 points on 11 of 21 from the floor, hauled in the inbound pass and raced up the floor.
He drove to the right side, where McBride was waiting for him and launched a sort of fader that bounced off the opposite side of the rim at the buzzer.
“I thought we had pretty good ball pressure on him,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “That made him (shoot) it a little higher than he wanted to.”
McBride, who had just become a hero with the winning shot moments earlier, got a hand in McClung’s face and forced up a tough shot.
Just 17 days earlier, WVU’s last-second defense failed in a 72-70 home loss against Texas.
“We were in much better position this time,” Huggins said.
As for the rest of the game, McClung was unstoppable. He was 4 of 8 from 3-point range, including one that gave Texas Tech an 87-84 lead with 1:10 remaining. He scored 24 of his 30 points in the second half.
“He’s hard to guard,” Huggins said. “We had a lot of guys on him, because we were switching ball screens. Just about everybody on the floor tried to guard him.”
Alarming numbers
WVU won this game despite getting outscored, 25-0, in points off turnovers.
“We’re still trying to get in sync,” McBride said. “Not forcing teams into turnovers, that’s not our style.”
Just two days after forcing 28 of them against Kansas State, the Mountaineers forced Texas Tech into just two.
There were other numbers that stood out.
Texas Tech held a 44-28 edge in points in the paint.
“We can’t have that,” Huggins said.
WVU was just 16 of 27 from the foul line and grabbed only five offensive rebounds.
Where the Mountaineers made up the difference was going 12 of 19 from the 3-point line and the Mountaineers made their final 10 shots of the game.
“We went 10 for 10 down the stretch,” Huggins said. “I mean, you go 10 for 10 down the stretch, you’re going to win a bunch of games. We finally made shots.”
No defense
Texas Tech entered the game leading the Big 12 in allowing just 59.9 points per game.
West Virginia had 61 with 8:56 remaining in the game.
“The story of tonight was our defense,” Texas Tech head coach Chris Beard said. “This is not Texas Tech defense. We don’t give up 90 points around here. Give credit to West Virginia. Credit individual players, especially McBride. Late in the game, we had no answer.”
The 88 points allowed was a season high for Texas Tech.
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