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If there was thought from West Virginia that starting Big 12 play could be to the Mountaineers’ benefit, it vanished quickly on Saturday in a matchup with No. 3 Houston at the Fertitta Center.
The Cougars controlled the contest from the opening tip and never trailed, building a 26-point halftime lead and coasting from there in an 89-55 victory over the Mountaineers.
“We saw it last year at Texas and you almost feel like you ran into a buzzsaw,” WVU interim head coach Josh Eilert said of the Mountaineers’ second straight lopsided loss in a conference opener. “You have to figure out what you can learn and learn quick and then turn the page. We play a good Kansas State team at home [Tuesday] that I think we can beat, but we have to be more discipline. We have to take our game plan from the practice court to the game floor and we did a poor job of executing the game plan.”
Houston (14-0, 1-0 Big 12) got off to a strong start in its first conference game and used the first of L.J. Cryer’s four first-half three-pointers to lead 5-0, while the Baylor transfer connected again from long range moments later to up the Cougars’ advantage to 14-7.
As Cryer and Houston continued to excel offensively, the Mountaineers (5-9, 0-1) proved to be no match and trailed 20-10 halfway through the opening half.
“The ball moved pretty good early and we got good looks, but they didn’t fall for us,” Eilert said. “That can be crippling.”
A conventional three-point play from Cougars’ guard Emanuel Sharp left WVU facing a 13-point deficit, and although Kerr Kriisa countered with a three-pointer for the Mountaineers, they never got the deficit to single digits the rest of the way.
Instead, a layup from Ramon Walker Jr. and two from Ja’Vier Francis made it 29-13, while a Sharp triple 5:33 before halftime left West Virginia trailing 32-15.
Houston continued to expand its lead and scored eight straight points late in the opening half for a 27-point advantage, before Akok Akok split two free throws for the halftime margin.
WVU wing RaeQuan Battle, who scored 82 points over his first three appearances as a Mountaineer, was scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting in the opening half.
The Cougars’ largest lead came at 68-29, before WVU put together its best stretch in a forgetful showing, outscoring Houston 10-2 over a span of 2:42. WVU’s first eight points of that stretch came on free throws, including four from Josiah Harris, and it concluded with a Noah Farrakhan layup off a turnover.
That was one of only a few easy baskets for West Virginia, which made 18-of-56 shots and only 4 of 23 from three-point range. Outside of reserve Pat Suemnick, who scored a team-high 12 points, the Mountaineers shot 12 for 48.
Farrakhan was the Mountaineers’ second-leading scorer with nine points.
Harris had six boards and Sumenick added five.
“Pat did a good job of coming in there and giving us some energy late and I’m going to have to reward him for the way that he played,” Eilert said. “He played with a sense of urgency and I kept telling them to push the pace and let’s try to get something easy downhill, because once they got that half court set, they’re as good as anybody in the country at half court defense and they proved it.”
Cryer’s 20 points were a game high. Damian Dunn added 14 in the win and Francis scored 13 on 6-of-8 shooting.
Sharp recorded a game-best seven rebounds and Houston’s Jamal Shead had 11 of the game’s 26 assists.
The Cougars outscored WVU 48-20 in the paint and finished with only five turnovers in an efficient offensive effort that included 53 percent shooting and a 9 for 18 effort on threes.
Houston won the battle of the boards, 40-34.
“I was worried about the physicality and the way they play is not a good matchup for us by any means,” Eilert said. “We rebounded better than I thought, but they made shots. I talked early and even at halftime about the ball sticking. They were doing a really good job in those traps and we have to get out, and then the ball is sticking. We have to take advantage of what they’re giving us and we weren’t doing that. As soon as we got out of that ball screen coverage, it stuck. We have to make teams pay when they do that. They didn’t have to make any adjustments, because we weren’t that one more pass.”
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