Sir'Jabari Rice's 24 points leads Texas past WVU in dominant fashion

After pulling down a defensive rebound with just over 12 minutes left in the game, Christian Bishop looked for Sir’Jabari Rice on the fast break. Rice drove to the basket and was fouled, sending both teams to the media timeout. Before he joined the Texas huddle, he brought the Moody Center crowd to its feet. Following the timeout, he hit both free throws to put the Longhorns up 28 on the visiting West Virginia Mountaineers.

[Get Inside Texas Plus until the start of the 2023 season for $29.99!]

It was one of many occasions where Rice, the Texas sixth man, had a major influence on the game. His 24-point effort, the most he’s scored in a Longhorn uniform, spearheaded Texas’ start-to-finish domination of West Virginia in a 94-60 win. It was the Horns’ largest win over WVU in the history of the series.

Rice’s performance was only 17 minutes in length and included a perfect 10-for-10 day at the free-throw line. His teammates joined him in charity stripe excellence as the Horns were 24-for-25 at the line.

Texas HC Rodney Terry: "From the time we recruited Jabari, our very first pitch to him was 'we need a guy who wants to come in and win at a high level what you've won, and do whatever it takes for the team.'"

"He's the best 6th man in the best league in the country."

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) February 11, 2023

“I think without a doubt, he’s the best sixth man in the best league in the country,” Texas interim head coach Rodney Terry said. “That makes him have a chance to be the best sixth man in the country. Really over the last three weeks, he’s done a great job with his attitude and approach to practice and I think it’s carried over into games.”

Those 17 minutes were enough to facilitate much of Texas’ dominant performance versus WVU, who entered Saturday 15-9 and 4-7 in the Big 12. The Longhorns jumped out to a 51-30 lead at halftime, culminated by a steal and Rice dunk just before the buzzer.

Texas’ lead was as large as 15 in the first half, but after a few minutes where the WVU offense stalled due to turnovers or Texas’ efforts, the Mountaineers went on a quick four-point run to cut the margin to 11.

Terry called timeout and whatever adjustments were made immediately paid dividends. Texas went on a 7-0 run to extend the lead to 18. Then, in the final three minutes of the half, the Longhorns outscored WVU 10-3. Rice added six points in that span, including the final dunk.

“Over the course of a few games, we got in the position of trading baskets and I didn’t want to trade baskets,” Terry said. “We had already gotten some separation, and I felt like we could have had more separation. But we needed to buckle down, take care of the basketball, sit down and guard and get some stops.”

The emphatic slam ended the important run that put the game in a place the Mountaineers would not be able to escape. Texas only increased its lead in the second 20 minutes, putting the difference as high as 37 points at one point.

Rice was joined in double figures by Timmy Allen, Marcus Carr, and Arterio Morris. Allen hit a jumper early in the first half that marked his 2000th career collegiate point. Allen scored 14, Carr 16, and Morris 12. It was Morris’ fifth 10-plus point performance.

[Sign up NOW for the Inside Texas newsletter for Texas Longhorns daily updates and breaking news in your inbox!]

A transfer from New Mexico State, Rice continues to thrive in his role as the Longhorns’ sixth man. Though he plays starter-level minutes, he’s yet to receive a start this season. That’s no problem for the Houston-area product.

His shot fake has been lauded nationally, and teams know they have to expect it. For a fake to be effective, it has to threaten a potential outcome. In this case, that’s hitting three-point shots.

“I’m knocking down shots now, so I’m shooting it more than I’m pump-faking,” Rice said. “At first, I wasn’t hitting as many shots. So I had to use the pump fake to try to get some to go through the basket. Fortunately, the ball is going through now.”

Rice led one of Texas’ best efforts of the year in that part of the game. He was an impressive 4-of-5 from three, part of a 10-of-17 showing from distance for the Longhorns. Texas was 30-of-64 from the field, with 16 assists on those 30 makes.

I'm no analytics expert, but I'm going to venture Sir'Jabari Rice's eFG% of 117 is really, really strong.

— Joe Cook (@josephcook89) February 11, 2023

“We know when we get a shot, we’re a really good team,” Allen said. “Our point of emphasis in the past couple of days has just been get the ball down the court and get a shot.”

West Virginia had 20 turnovers in the game, including 13 in the first half. The Mountaineers surrendered possession more often than they converted field goals, with only 19 makes in the loss. Texas scored 32 points off those turnovers, and added 23 fast break points.

Emmitt Mathews Jr. was the only Mountaineer in double figures with 13 points. Former Longhorn Tre Mitchell had just four points in 25 minutes.

The Longhorns head to Lubbock, Texas to face the Red Raiders on Monday. Texas defeated Texas Tech 72-70 during the first matchup between the two teams this season on January 14. Despite struggles this year, Mark Adams’ team is 9-4 at home.

“A lot of respect for our opponent going into that contest,” Terry said.

Texas is 9-3 in Big 12 play, ahead of Kansas by a game after both teams won on Saturday.

A win over Tech would put Texas over the 10 conference win mark for the third consecutive year.

Texas will find out if they can prevail on another Big Monday appearance at 8 p.m. on ESPN.