MORGANTOWN — It was as ugly as a Prius driving through a snowstorm, and sometimes maybe just as dangerous.
Through 40 minutes of collisions, bodies flying on the floor and a combined 46 fouls, Oklahoma State survived a late rally from West Virginia and handed the Mountaineers a 67-60 loss on Monday inside Gallagher-Iba Arena.
It was the 11th consecutive road setback in Big 12 play for the Mountaineers (10-4, 0-2 Big 12), who are winless through their first two Big 12 games for just the second time since joining the conference in 2012.
“We’ve got to go win two at home and then go on a run,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said on his radio postgame show. “Right now, we’re nobody. We need to be somebody.”
Those two at home will be against No. 3 Kansas and No. 19 Baylor, and considering the Mountaineers have lost 10 straight against top 25-ranked teams, well, you see the uphill battle WVU has in front of it.
Huggins pointed to several factors for the loss, none more stressed than the actions of WVU guard Erik Stevenson, who went from hero to outlaw in just a matter of seconds.
Stevenson finished with 17 points and nailed three consecutive 3-pointers, with the third giving WVU its first lead of the game, 53-51, with 7:19 remaining.
As he went back down the floor, Stevenson apparently made a hand gesture toward Boston Celtics guard Marcus Smart, a former Oklahoma State star who was in attendance.
That was the explanation Huggins received from the referees, he said.
Stevenson was immediately whistled for a technical foul, and Oklahoma State’s Caleb Asberry made one of two free throws to cut it to 53-52.
“Erik did something incredibly stupid again,” Huggins said. “and it basically cost us the game.”
WVU did go back up by three when Tre Mitchell scored on a drive for a 55-52 lead, but over the final six minutes, Oklahoma State (9-5, 1-1) dominated.
Moments later, Stevenson fouled out of the game after he was called for an offensive foul with 5:57 remaining.
WVU had no offense without him.
The Mountaineers, who finished a paltry 19 of 52 (36.5%) shooting, made just one of their final seven shots of the game, which included an airball 3-pointer from Tre Mitchell very early in the shot clock with WVU trailing by two.
It also included two missed lay-ups from Kedrian Johnson, who also missed two free throws with 1:35 remaining.
Meanwhile, Oklahoma State pulled away by going 5 of 6 from the foul line in the closing minutes, while Kalib Boone made three nice plays on a tip-in and then on two baby hook shots over the final 4:56.
“We had our chances,” Huggins said. We couldn’t make a free throw, couldn’t make a shot. We can’t blame it on anybody but us.”
Just like poor free-throw shooting cost WVU dearly in last week’s road loss against Kansas State, the Mountaineers finished 17 of 28 from the line, leaving 11 possible points out there in a seven-point defeat.
The fact WVU was even in position to win in the second half was sort of surprising.
WVU took nearly seven minutes just to score its first two baskets of the game and didn’t reach double figures until the 8:06 mark of the first half.
The Mountaineers also committed 15 turnovers, some of them as confusing as simply losing the ball out of bounds while trying to dribble it.
That’s 35 turnovers for WVU in their two road games to open conference play.
“So we’ve only turned it over 35 times in two games,” Huggins said. “That’ll win games for you.”
Bryce Thompson led Oklahoma State with 15 points and the Cowboys recovered after losing a heartbreaker against Kansas in its Big 12 opener.
Oklahoma State shot 48.1% (25 of 52) from the field and outscored WVU in the paint 34-14.
Mitchell added 16 points and seven rebounds and played all 40 minutes of the game for the Mountaineers. Jimmy Bell Jr. led WVU with nine rebounds.
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