Houston Chronicle LogoHearst Newspapers Logo

Texas imposes will in rout of West Virginia

UT gets tough, imposes its will on defense and in the paint

By , San Antonio Express-NewsUpdated
Texas' Cameron Ridley, who scored a team-leading 19 points, towers over West Virginia's Jevon Carter for a blocked shot in Saturday night's game.
Texas' Cameron Ridley, who scored a team-leading 19 points, towers over West Virginia's Jevon Carter for a blocked shot in Saturday night's game.Chris Covatta/Stringer

AUSTIN - To jostle Texas out of a monthlong slumber and make it look like a Top 25 team again, Rick Barnes didn't need to design a new play. His Longhorns didn't need to fine-tune their passing or sharpen their decision-making.

Saturday night at the Erwin Center, it proved to be much simpler.

"This wasn't a game for execution," UT forward Jonathan Holmes said after the No. 20 Longhorns shredded No. 16 West Virginia 77-50. "It was about having some dog in us."

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Not only did Holmes and his teammates bare their teeth, they proved they had plenty of bite, too.

Less than two weeks after Barnes suggested the slumping Longhorns might be "phony tough guys," they pummeled the Mountaineers throughout, outscoring them 30-14 in the paint and limiting the visitors to 24.1-percent shooting.

It was the lowest percentage UT had allowed a Big 12 opponent in a regular-season game.

In a game that featured three technical fouls, Holmes said the Longhorns - who had lost two games in a row and three of their last five - were intent on not being pushed around.

"They tried to come out and punk us," Holmes said. "And we couldn't let that happen."

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

Cameron Ridley led Texas (13-4, 2-2 Big 12) with 19 points on 8-of-10 shooting. Holmes added 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Myles Turner had 16 points and seven rebounds.

West Virginia (15-3, 3-2) looked flustered and incompetent on offense. Before Saturday, the Mountaineers had averaged 78.8 points per game, with Juwan Staten averaging 15.8. Against the Longhorns, he finished with three points on 1-of-7 shooting.

And as West Virginia coach Bob Huggins pointed out, Staten wasn't the only one who UT's defense made look bad.

"They imposed their will, and we didn't respond to it," Huggins said.

Ridley responded to Barnes' call to get more involved, though. After emerging as one of the Longhorns' breakout stars last spring, the 6-9, 285-pound junior hadn't built on that this season. In 13 of UT's 17 games before Saturday, he had been held to single-digit scoring totals, and his intensity had lacked on the defensive end as well.

Advertisement

Article continues below this ad

"Up to this point, I hadn't been playing my role," Ridley said. "I had to change my mindset."

This week, Ridley said, he vowed to be a bigger factor at both ends of the floor. Saturday, Barnes said he "set the tone" with his defense in the game's opening minutes, and with Texas' guards more intent on delivering him the ball, he attacked the rim for four dunks.

|Updated
By