By Wendell Barnhouse
Big12Sports.com Correspondent
FORT WORTH, Texas – Opening Big 12 Conference play with a road game against an undefeated team and not having your best player available is not the optimal way to bring in the New Year.
West Virginia, though, did what successful Big 12 teams need to do – win a road game. The next two months feature 18 games for each school, nine at home, nine on the road. It's not a sprint, it's not a marathon … it's an iron man triathlon. May the best team win … or survive.
The 17th-ranked Mountaineers, playing without preseason player of the year Juwan Staten, wore down TCU, 78-67, Saturday afternoon at Wilkerson-Greines Activity Center, the Frogs' temporary home. Both teams are now 13-1 overall following their league opener.
TCU, which entered the day as one of six undefeated teams in Division I, wanted to prove that its perfect start wasn't forged on a soft nonconference schedule. Until the last 10 minutes, the Frogs were in position to end their 19-game Big 12 regular-season losing streak.
"We expected to be in the game, we think we're a great team," said TCU senior guard Trey Ziegler, who finished with 17 points. "I think we've got a great chance to win some games. We didn't do what we needed to do to win – rebounding and taking care of the ball."
With Staten dressed in gray sweats and looking well, sick, the Mountaineers were missing their top scorer (16.1 points per game) and top distributor (4.2 per game). Jaysean Page, Daxter Miles Jr. and Jevon Carter combined for 26 points, but senior Gary Browne came through to help West Virginia seal the deal.
Saddled with three fouls in the first half, Browne spent the first nine minutes of the second half on the bench. When he came in with 11:47 remaining, the Mountaineers had a 46-44 lead. From there, he scored all of 14 points by often driving past TCU's Brandon Parrish thanks to high screens set by WVU's post players.
“We weren’t making too many shots outside, but their big guys couldn’t guard the ball screen,” Browne said.
"I didn't want Gary to get in foul trouble, I had to have him at the end of the game," Huggins said. "Other than Juwan, he's our strongest guy with the ball. I think Gary came in and was terrific. Good teams rally. We got contributions from a bunch of guys."
TCU led most of the first half, jumping to a 7-0 edge and taking a 22-12 lead with 6:40 remaining. The Mountaineers turned it over on five of their first 12 possessions and looked like they were playing without one of the nation's best point guards. West Virginia missed at least a dozen shots of less than five feet.
"Sometimes I sit here after a game and I think 'How did we win?'" said Huggins, who switched from a tie-less three-piece suit to a pullover and sweat pants at halftime. "We missed eight layups the first half, got destroyed on the glass and didn't take very good care of the ball. I don't know how we stayed in it."
This version of the Mountaineers, though, plays like a typical Huggins team – relentless rebounding and a pressure defense that resembles controlled chaos.
"We've been decidedly better in the second half all season," said Huggins, whose team plays at Texas Tech Monday to complete a Big 12 season-opening two-game road trip.
West Virginia was forcing 23 turnovers per game before Big 12 play started. TCU committed "just" 18 turnovers but combined with WVU's board work in the second half, the visitors launched 22 more shots.
"We had better ball pressure in the second half and it's a cumulative effect," Huggins said. "We've got to find a way to get more shots."
Sophomore forward Devin Williams, who finished with 14 points and eight rebounds, helped lead the Mountaineers' glass cleaners. With 6:55 to play, Browne made the first of two free throws to give WVU a 59-54 lead. He missed the second, but Williams bulled his way to the rebound, was scored, fouled and completed a three-point play for a 62-54 edge.
"We got beat on the glass, especially in the second half," Ziegler said. "They out-toughed us. They've got some big, strong guys. They also got us sped up with their press, they do a good job with it."
The Frogs were outscored 40-22 in the paint and 23-12 in second-chance points.
"I told them prior to the game when news broke that (Juwan) Staten wasn't going to play was that this game just got a lot tougher because obviously they are talented and deep," said TCU coach Trent Johnson, whose team plays at Kansas State Wednesday. "When they hit us in the face in the second half, we lost our poise and we started to get testy with one another. We forgot about playing basketball and making plays."