Sir’Jabari Rice scored 24 points off the bench and the Texas defense did the rest as the fifth-ranked Longhorns dominated West Virginia 94-60 on Saturday in a Big 12 Conference contest in Austin, Texas.

The Longhorns forced 20 West Virginia turnovers that they turned into 32 points, 21 of those in the first half as Texas built a 21-point lead.

The Longhorns (20-5, 9-3 Big 12) pushed aside any notion of a West Virginia comeback by outscoring the Mountaineers 14-7 over the first eight minutes of the second half to expand their advantage to 65-37, and they cruised from there.

Rice finished 10-for-10 from the free-throw line. Marcus Carr scored 16 points, Timmy Allen added 14 points and Arterio Morris had 12 as Texas won for the fifth time in its past six Big 12 games to remain atop the conference standings.

The Longhorns swept the season series from West Virginia for the second straight campaign.

Emmitt Matthews Jr. was the only West Virginia player to reach double figures with 13 points. The Mountaineers (15-10, 4-8) had more turnovers than made field goals (19).

The Mountaineers came out ready to play, building a 12-8 lead after Matthews’ fourth bucket over the game’s first five-plus minutes. Texas responded, reeling off a 12-2 run to leapfrog ahead 20-14 after a 3-pointer by Rice.

The rest of the half belonged to the Longhorns as they went up by 15 points when Morris canned a 3-pointer with 7:01 left in the half.

Another Morris trey at the 4:38 mark built the Texas advantage to 41-23, and dunks by Christian Bishop and Rice, the latter at the buzzer after a steal by Morris, granted the Longhorns a 51-30 lead at the break.

Rice led all scorers with 14 points before halftime with Allen adding 10. The Longhorns forced 13 turnovers in the half and hit all 16 of their free throws over the first 20 minutes. Matthews paced the Mountaineers with 12 points before the break.

–Field Level Media