There’s an overused basketball cliché about having more turnovers than a bakery … but sometimes clichés are appropriate.
That was the case Saturday night in the WVU Coliseum when the Mountaineers’ 20 turnovers contributed a great deal in their 69-61 loss to seventh-ranked Texas.
“You can’t turn the ball over 20 times,†stated a dejected West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins, as his club fell to 11-8 overall and 1-6 in the Big 12 Conference. “We talked about that earlier in the year and said we were going to fix it. We had it down to where we were turning it over maybe six times a game, which still isn’t good but it’s way better than 20. Now we’re back to 20, and not against pressure. We just throw the ball to the wrong team.â€
WVU’s 20 turnovers Saturday equaled its season high, as it gave the ball away 20 times in an 82-76 overtime loss at Kansas State on Dec. 31 as well. It’s also the 17th time in their 11 seasons as a member of the Big 12 that the Mountaineers have turned it over 20 or more times in a conference game. They have a 5-12 record in those charitable affairs.
“I can’t give you anything specific,†said WVU junior forward Tre Mitchell when asked about what led to the turnover problems. “I would say one (of reason) is me. I had five (turnovers), so clearly there is an issue there.
“We were just careless with the ball, and we have to take better care of it.â€
Mitchell did have 12 points and a game-high eight rebounds Saturday, but he was just four of 11 from the field. Senior guard Kedrian Johnson was the only Mountaineer with more points than Mitchell, as he scored a career-high 22, but he also had a turnover issue with six. Texas was led in scoring by senior guard Marcus Carr, who had 23 points, 19 of which came in the second half.
It was that second half that pushed the Longhorns (16-3/5-2) to their eighth win over West Virginia in the last 10 meetings. WVU led 28-26 at halftime, but then Texas began to heat up offensively, converting 53.8% of its field goals (14 of 26) in the final 20 minutes, while also slowing down the Mountaineers, who made just 35.7% of their tries from the floor (10 of 28) in the period. That disparity allowed the visitors to outscore West Virginia 43-33 in the second half. UT closed the game with a 6-0 run in the final two and a half minutes to turn a razor-thin 63-61 lead into an eight-point victory.
“I know that Texas likes to pride itself on defense, but the situation is we pick and choose when we want to play together,†said an introspective Mitchell. “We pick and choose the moments that we want to move the ball, when we want to work together, when we want to screen for our teammate to get them open. Then we pick and choose moments where we say, ‘Forget about everybody else. I’m just going to try to do something myself.’ We have to start sharing the ball more and stay consistent with it. We had success with that early on, but then we deviated from it.â€
It was an especially emotional loss for Mitchell, who transferred to West Virginia this past summer after spending the 2021-22 season at Texas.
“I just wanted to win, man; I just wanted to win,†said Mitchell, his heading hanging low. “Those were dudes (for UT), I went to war with them a year ago, worked out with them in the summer, went through ups and downs with them last year and built relationships with them. But that doesn’t change the fact that when we step in between those lines in different jerseys, it’s mine against yours. I just wanted to do what I could do to help us win, and clearly I didn’t do too well at that.â€
After a snapping five-game losing streak with a 74-65 victory over No. 17 TCU on Wednesday, the Mountaineers couldn’t sustain the momentum Saturday against another ranked Big 12 foe. They’ll try to bounce back Wednesday (7 p.m. on ESPN) at Texas Tech (10-9/0-7).
“We just have to come to practice and work to get better,†stated Johnson. “We can’t dwell on it. We have plenty of games left. We just have to get better from this point.â€
