After a loss to No. 12 Iowa State in Ames, Iowa, No. 7 Texas traveled to Morgantown, West Virginia to take on Bob Huggins and the Mountaineers Saturday night.

West Virginia is struggling, coming into Saturday’s matchup with a 1–5 record in Big 12 play, with its lone win coming against No. 14 TCU on Jan. 18.

The Longhorns would benefit from a win on the road to get back on track before a tough stretch of games against Oklahoma State, Tennessee, Baylor, Kansas State and Kansas. Four of Texas’ next five opponents are currently ranked.

Senior forward Dylan Disu got the scoring started for Texas, going up against former Longhorn forward Tre Mitchell, who stepped away from the program midway through the season last year. Since leaving Austin, he has revitalized his game and is a key contributor to Huggins’ team. Mitchell won Big 12 Player of the Week in December and has continued to build upon his solid season. Going into the break, the Mountaineers were up 28-26. Mitchell led the game with 9 points and five rebounds, a big reason his team had the lead.

Texas was in familiar territory, down after halftime, but graduate student guard Marcus Carr gave the Longhorns the lead on their first possession with a 3-pointer.

However, Mitchell continued to make the right plays, finding a wide open Mountaineer to take back the lead.

The game went back and forth at a high pace, both teams suddenly scoring in bunches. A couple of slams by Disu and senior forward Christian Bishop brought Texas even, forcing a West Virginia timeout with 15:46 left in the game.

Carr and Disu took turns scoring, contributing 16 straight points for the Longhorns and building Texas’ lead to 5 points with under nine minutes left.

With 5:36 remaining, senior forward Timmy Allen drew a charge, marking the Mountaineers’ 18th turnover. The effort on the defensive end by Allen led to a dunk by Bishop, giving Texas its biggest lead of the game at 6.

West Virginia clawed its way back into the game, dwindling down the lead to 2. After Disu fouled out, Texas went cold shooting, but was able to stay afloat from the free-throw line.

Paired with great defense and solid free-throw shooting, the Longhorns were able to get out of Morgantown with a 69-61 win, led by Carr’s efficient 23-point game. Solid contributions from Disu, Bishop and sophomore guard Tyrese Hunter proved crucial as well.