Texas brings offensive-minded team to face WVU

MORGANTOWN — The transformation from defense to offense has been quite noticeable with seventh-ranked Texas.

Sort of like that kid who was 5-foot-9 and 120 pounds one summer, then 6-2, 180 the next.

A season ago, under former head coach Chris Beard, who was fired on Jan. 5 after his arrest on a third-degree felony domestic violence charge, the Longhorns gave up the fewest points in the Big 12 at 60 points a game.

A season later, behind fifth-year seniors Marcus Carr and Timmy Allen, Texas’ offense is tops in the conference.

“I’ll tell you, they can make shots,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “They can really make shots. We’ve got to do a better job of guarding them.”

How much difference does one season make?

Texas gave up 65 or more points in a game just 14 times last season. This season, the Longhorns (15-3, 4-2 Big 12) scored 103 points in a game against Kansas State … and lost.

“Any time you have a coaching change, you could have a change in philosophy,” Huggins said.

Rodney Terry has taken over as the interim and has led Texas to a 8-2 record since Beard’s firing, and Texas is averaging 80 points a game under him.

Carr leads the way, scoring 17 points, with Allen chipping in 10.8 per game.

“Timmy Allen is very good and very skilled,” Huggins said. “I don’t think you can throw size at him and it would bother him as much as it would some other people.”

Texas’ success has been built through the transfer portal. Allen and Carr both were transfers from Utah and Minnesota last season.

Tyrese Hunter was the Big 12 Freshman of the Year at Iowa State last season and fellow starter Sir’Jabari Rice is a grad transfer from New Mexico State.

Other things to keep an eye on for tonight’s game:

Huggins not worried about Mitchell

WVU forward Tre Mitchell played 24 games and started 17 at Texas last season after transferring from UMass.

He left the team last February for personal reasons and then transferred to WVU (11-7, 1-5) over the summer.

Mitchell averaged 8.7 points per game with the Longhorns, but Huggins said he wasn’t too concerned with Mitchell’s mental state heading into this game.

“He wasn’t there very long,” Huggins said. “He played against us in one game.

“I think Tre said it best when he said he’s never been more comfortable. If he had known West Virginia was as good a place as it is and the people are nice and kind as they are, he would have been here from the beginning.”

Getting defensive

Coming off its 75-64 victory against No. 14 TCU, Huggins felt WVU had played one of its best defensive games of the season.

The Mountaineers came away with a 31-18 rebounding advantage and held TCU to just 2 of 8 from 3-point range.

“If we guarded the way we guarded the other night, it makes it a lot harder to score,” Huggins said. “Texas has always been talented. They’ve always had guys who can make shots. I don’t ever remember a Texas team that wasn’t really talented, but how could it not be with the area they have to recruit?”

The series

** Texas is 5-5 all-time playing in the WVU Coliseum, but have won the last two games in Morgantown by a combined three points.

** WVU ended an 11-game losing streak against AP Top 25-ranked teams with the win against TCU. The Mountaineers are now looking for back-to-back wins against ranked teams for the first time since the 2020-21 season, when WVU beat three straight.

TWEET @bigjax3211