Texas Basketball: 3 reasons Longhorns can dominate West Virginia

On the afternoon of Feb. 20, No. 12 ranked Texas basketball will take to their home court after a series of other game delays to face the up and down, but still talented and deep, No. 13 ranked West Virginia Mountaineers. Head coach Shaka Smart and his team felt the effects of the weather delays earlier in the week, further postponing two outings they had.

Smart and the Longhorns were originally set to face the rival Oklahoma Sooners and Iowa State Cyclones earlier this week, but the massive winter storms that hit the state of Texas prevented either of those from happening. That Texas-Oklahoma game was pushed back quite a few times before it was officially delayed to a date yet to be determined this season.

On one occasion this week, the Mountaineers did feel the impact of the weather/COVID-19-related delays. West Virginia was supposed to face the undefeated and No. 2 ranked Baylor Bears this week. But head coach Scott Drew and his Baylor team was forced to delay a number of games they had in the wake of COVID-19 related issues.

Texas still has faced Baylor only once this season.

Moreover, Texas is set to tip off against West Virginia at 2 p.m. CT at home at the Frank Erwin Center on Feb. 20. Texas comes in with a record of 13-5 (7-4 Big 12), meanwhile West Virginia sports a record of 14-6 (7-4 Big 12).

Texas is a 3.5 point favorite ahead of tip off for this game, and the ESPN matchup predictor gives them a 62.1 percent chance to win. The Longhorns are a slight favorite here, but this win won’t come easy for them in all likelihood. Nonetheless, a win over West Virginia to sweep the regular season series would be huge for this team.

Here’s a look into three reasons why the Longhorns could potentially dominate the Mountaineers on the hardwood on Feb. 20.