The University of Texas at Austin Athletics
University of Texas
13-4, 2-2
West Virginia
15-3, 3-2
Ridley leads No. 20/20 Men's Basketball past No. 16/15 West Virginia, 77-50
01.17.2015 | Men's Basketball
Holmes posts third double-double on season.
AUSTIN, Texas – Jonathan Holmes recorded his third double-double of the season with 16 points and 11 rebounds, and Cameron Ridley led all scorers with a season-high 19 points to pace No. 20/20 Texas to a 77-50 victory over No. 16/15 West Virginia on Saturday evening at the Erwin Center.
Ridley scored 12 of his points in the opening period and finished shooting 8-of-10 from the field while tying a season high with four blocks. Holmes recorded a career-high 11 made free throws, including 8-of-8 in the second half. Freshman Myles Turner shot a perfect 9-of-9 from the free-throw line and tallied 16 points and seven rebounds. As a team, Texas (13-4, 2-2 Big 12) converted a season-high 31-of-37 from the charity stripe, including 22-of-24 in the second half.
Texas has won the last four matchups against West Virginia (15-3, 3-2), all by double figures, with an average margin of victory of 18.0 points per contest. At home, Texas has won 17 of its last 19 games, including wins against four AP Top 25 opponents.
The UT defense held the Mountaineers to a .241 field goal percentage, which marked a school record for the lowest opponent shooting percentage in a regular season Big 12 Conference game. The 13 made field goals also tied the fewest Texas has allowed in a Big 12 game.
The Horns also forced a season-high 17 turnovers and outscored West Virginia, 21-8, in points off turnovers.
After West Virginia scored the game's first five points, the Longhorns responded with an 18-2 run, led by eight points from Ridley, and held the Mountaineers without a field goal for over eight minutes.
Texas closed out the final three minutes of the first half with a 7-2 run, thanks to five points from Turner, to take a 37-23 lead into the locker room. Ridley paced the Horns in the opening 20 minutes with 12 points on 5-of-7 shooting, while recording four boards, three blocks and two steals.
West Virginia entered the contest leaing the nation in turnover margin (+10.7). The Mountaineers had 17 turnovers to 19 from Texas.
West Virginia's Juwan Staten came into tonight averaging a team-high 15.8 points and 4.3 assists per game but only recorded three points, with his lone field goal coming in the final minute of the game, and zero assists. Gary Browne led the Mountaineers with 14 points.
Texas heads to Fort Worth to face the TCU Horned Frogs on Monday, Jan. 19. Tipoff is set for 6 p.m. Central, and the game will be nationally televised on ESPNU.
Texas Basketball Postgame Notes
No. 20/20 Texas 77, No. 16/15 West Virginia 50
January 17, 2015
Frank Erwin Center (Austin, Texas)
Attendance: 13,204
Team Notes
Texas posted its fourth consecutive victory against West Virginia (all by double digits). The Horns improved to 6-3 all-time against the Mountaineers.
UT improved to 34-19 against AP Top 25 opponents under Rick Barnes at the Erwin Center.
Texas held WVU to 24.1% FG shooting (13-of-54). This marked a UT record for lowest FG percentage allowed in a Big 12 Conference regular-season contest (previous mark: 25.0 at Baylor [13-of-52] on Feb. 19, 2000).
UT posted a +12 rebound margin (44-32). The Horns have recorded double-digit rebound margins in 12 of their first 17 contests this year.
Texas registered a 21-8 advantage in points off turnovers (WVU entered the game averaging 24.8 points per game off turnovers).
UT recorded a 30-14 advantage in points in the paint.
He has hit at least one 3-pointer in all of his 16 games played this year
Extended his streak to 18 consecutive games (dating back to last season) with at least one made 3-pointer
Posted a double-double (16 points, 11 rebounds) for the third time this year and eighth time in his career (112 games)
Reached double figures in scoring (16 points) for the 11th time this year and 52nd time in his career
Reached double figures in rebounding (11 boards) for the fourth time this year and 13th time in his career
Set a career high in free throws made (11-of-12). Previous high was nine against Iowa State (Jan. 18, 2014).
Reached double figures in scoring (19 points) for the fifth time this year and 27th time in his career (85 games)
Tied a career high in field goals made (8-of-10) and set a season high in points (19) and tied a season high in blocks (four)
Reached double figures in scoring (16 points) for the eighth time this year (17 games)
TEXAS QUOTES
Head Coach Rick Barnes
On what the team showed tonight: I really liked our practices leading up to this week. I thought that's where we got better really, where our focus in practice was a lot better. We competed harder in practice. I really like how these guys prepared mentally and focused. Our defense was terrific. Our post guys did a great job. Our guards did, too, considering [West Virginia] is such a relentless team. There wasn't one guy who played in that game today that didn't help us. We knew it would be one of those games where we had to get after it. Cam [Ridley] set a great tone for us early. It's hard playing against teams that, make or miss, are jumping up there by making it difficult for guys to make outlet passes or crowd receivers. We knew we were going to turn it over. They only had eight points off turnovers and we ended up with 21. Normally they really make you pay. They average 24 points off turnovers. That was big for us.
On worrying about mindset of the team: I think every team goes through it. I know that we had to deal with some situations – the Isaiah [Taylor] situation, and Javan [Felix] being hurt. That doesn't excuse the fact that we didn't compete like we had to. There's no excuse for that and that was our message to them. We don't have to be really complicated in what we are going to do, but we have to compete. We had some guys who had really good weeks of practice – Connor [Lammert], Cam. I thought Isaiah, he's still working on getting back in it and as the game went on, he started seeing some things a little more.
On Cam Ridley setting the tone: Defensively he was terrific in the middle of the zone. He was great. I thought he got himself ready offensively. His feet were ready. It was more on the defensive end. I told our guards, last game Cam got one shot. Guards need to take care of those post guys. Those are the guys doing the dirty work and screening. We don't have to take quick shots early in the possession. People are going to make you work, they aren't just going to let you put the ball where you want to. But I thought defensively he was really, really good in the middle of the zone.
Senior Forward Jonathan Holmes
On how good the win was: I mean it was a good win. It was a conference win. It's big for us just moving forward against a really good team. We had a week to prepare and we came out ready to play.
On if they played like the team from early November and December: Yeah, coming into this game we knew we had to play with that team. The team we had been playing with the last couple of months ago, if we would have come out like that, it would have embarrassed us, because they played really hard and they are a really good team. So we knew we had a week to prepare, get our minds right and pick ourselves back up. So it was good. It was a good team performance tonight.
On how much hearing how physical West Virginia was all week helped them tonight: We talked amongst ourselves and tonight was more about effort and having some [toughness] and just coming out and playing hard. It wasn't really about making shots or turning the ball over, it was just about coming out and playing hard. This really wasn't a game for execution, it was more about just playing basketball, playing hard and having some [toughness].
Junior Center Cameron Ridley
On the team's first half performance: This week in practice, we worked on ways to get me the ball in the game. I came in the game with the mindset that I was going to do whatever I needed to do to help my team, because I hadn't been doing that in earlier games this year.
On how he can duplicate his performance tonight against everyone else: Just come in the game with the same confidence and play as hard as I can. You play hard and good things happen—so that's what I'm going to keep focusing on doing.
On how he carries that confidence over: Self-motivation to get better every day in the gym, knowing that my teammates have my back regardless of what I do and knowing that they have confidence in me.
On how he knew he had to change how he was playing: We talk about what our roles are and up to this point, I haven't been playing my role and doing the things that I should do. I changed my mind and wanted to do right and get better for the team.
WEST VIRGINIA QUOTES
Head Coach Bob Huggins
On if Texas was a bad matchup for West Virginia: I think anybody who has watched both teams play knows we have to play a certain way. It comes down to a degree of whoever has the greatest will. They played the game the way they wanted to play. We certainly didn't play the way we wanted to play. They imposed their will on us and we didn't respond to it very well. But I mean, matchups go both ways.
On how much of tonight's loss was related to them not being able to play the way they wanted: We shot 20 percent on field goals in the second half. It's hard to win like that. It's a 10-point game and we miss a wide open lay-up. How many times have we done that? That's the frustrating part. We worked like crazy, you've got the layup, maybe we get on a run, and then the same guy lets his guy catch the ball when we're going to get a five-count. Then we go to the other end and he didn't even attempt to block anybody out, this guy comes flying in and makes three-point play. So there are two points we lose and two points they can potentially gain. That's four points he costs us. He cost us an opportunity to have the ball again, which is six points, and add three more in there and that's nine points. That's bad basketball, and that's what we can't have. We have to be a team, we're not good enough for one guy to take the ball to go and win the game for us. We don't have that. It looked to me that we had guys open, we just didn't deliver the ball.
On if the team needs to try harder: Emotionally, it's not like we weren't ready. It's not like we were flat. You could argue that we weren't smart. I would probably go that direction.
On if their second half of the season is going to be as good as the first half if they play the way they want: Should be better. Is it going to be harder? Yeah, we're not playing the people we played the first half. There are seven teams ranked in this league. That's twelve games you are playing against ranked teams. Twelve. So it's harder, but it's harder because we are playing better people.
