No. 5 Longhorns Throttle West Virginia to Stay Atop Big 12

The Texas Longhorns were hardly gracious hosts in Saturday's blowout win over the West Virginia Mountaineers.

AUSTIN -- In the toughest league in college basketball, the Texas Longhorns understandably haven't had a major blowout go their way in Big 12 play. Maybe things could change in Saturday's meeting with the West Virginia Mountaineers at the Moody Center.

One of "those" performances was bound to happen eventually, especially since the No. 5 Longhorns had four days to soak in the frustration from their 88-80 loss to the No. 9 Kansas Jayhawks on Monday.

And behind efficient 3-point shooting, a nearly-perfect day at the foul line (24 of 25) and wall-to-wall defense, Texas (20-5, 9-3) was able to avoid the close-game stresses that have been abundant game to game in the Big 12, as the Horns cruised to a 94-60 win over WVU.

Texas was led by a game-high 24 points off the bench from Sir'Jabari Rice while Timmy Allen (14 points, nine rebounds) and Marcus Carr (16 points) had their usual scoring performances.

The Mountaineers saw their scoring production get spread out across the roster, as forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. was their only player in double figures with 13.

Despite falling into an early 12-8 hole, Texas quickly pulled things together. A triple from Rice gave the Longhorns a 13-12 lead, one that they wouldn't surrender for the remainder of the game.

The 3-pointer marked the beginning of a hot first half for Rice, who headed into the locker room with a game-high 14 points.

Texas quickly turned things into a blowout, jumping out to a double-digit lead by the 8:27 mark. A breakaway dunk from Rice in the final seconds of the first half gave the Longhorns a 51-30 lead, as the 21-point edge marked their largest of the game at that point.

But the lead ballooned even further in the second half ... and, unsurprisingly, Rice found himself at the center of the cause. He nailed two more triples to give Texas a 25-point edge.

Once he took a seat, it continued to be nothing but buckets from all areas of the floor. Carr found Allen in transition for an easy dunk before the Toronto native hit another 3 of his own. The Longhorns found themselves up 37 at 64-37, with seemingly nothing to be upset about.

Of course, not everything was going to be perfect for the Longhorns on day where they played nearly flawless. The team was a combined 24 of 24 from the foul line, but it was Dylan Disu who finally missed the first attempt of the game with 4:20 remaining, resulting in a disappointed groan from the crowd.

But in a 34-point victory against a Big 12 opponent, this was the only gripe anyone could possibly have.

The Longhorns will head to Lubbock to take on the Texas Tech Red Raiders on Monday.

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You can follow Zach Dimmitt on Twitter at @ZachDimmitt7

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