Pop Isaacs suffers ankle injury, Texas Tech stays winless in Big 12 after loss to West Virginia
In the first four minutes of Wednesday's Big 12 contest against West Virginia, Texas Tech had eight players step onto the court.
Earlier in the week, Red Raiders coach Mark Adams admitted he would substitute more players to limit the minutes for his starting rotation.
The decision worked for a brief moment on the way to a double-digit point lead, but Texas Tech scored 13 points in the final 13 minutes which allowed the Mountaineers to take the two-possession lead at halftime and 76-61 victory inside United Supermarkets Arena.
Despite the extra rest, Texas Tech was out of energy and fight at the final buzzer after battling without Fardaws Aimaq (bruise in left foot) and Pop Isaacs, who left in the second half after an ankle injury.
Kevin Obanor stepped up with 20 points and eight rebounds, while De'Vion Harmon chipped in 14 points to round out the double-figure scorers for the Red Raiders.
"It does, but we've got a whole list of excuses if we want to go there," Adams said when asked if the 44 to 27 rebounding deficit could be attributed to the lack of Aimaq on the floor. "But right now we've gotta play the cards that were dealt to us and we've got Pop out right now and Daws. We've just got to play better as a team."
With the loss, the Red Raiders (10-10, 0-8) have dropped their first eight conference games for the first time since the 2011-2012 campaign, and four straight at home after winning 29 straight prior to the Big 12 home opener, while West Virginia (12-8, 2-6) secured its first league road win in two years.
"It's on me as the head coach, I've got to get these guys to play better," Adams said. "We've gotta bunch of good kids and they're trying hard. This is all on the head coach, and (I) certainly assume that responsibility. Don't want us to take it on these kids.
"They're trying hard, they're good kids and they're wanting to win."
Early on, Texas Tech looked to be in control as it jumped out to a 15-5 advantage and befuddled the Mountaineers players with physical defense while Obanor helped on offense by scoring nine of the first 15 points in that span.
But, a quick rotation of subs — with the score at 10-2 — allowed West Virginia to forge a 28-13 offensive surge to close out the final 13 minutes en route to the Mountaineers holding a 33-28 advantage.
“I was trying to get our guys to throw it to our team,” West Virginia coach Bob Huggins said of subbing in Kobe Johnson, Joe Toussaint, Mohamed Wague, Seth Wilson and Josiah Harris at the 14:57 mark of the first half. ”They were extremely charitable early on. When you get those guys out and have then rethink it a little bit. And our young guys have been pretty good in practice.
“We were going to throw it to the other team, we might as well bring younger guys in and try to help them.”
The second half saw a semblance of a rally as Obanor drained a 3-pointer to close the gap to one possession at 49-47 with 10:25 left in the game.
That's as close at the Red Raiders got due to the Mountaineers outhustling Texas Tech to loose balls, which turned into offensive rebounds and second chance points.
The best example was following a 3-point miss by Stevenson, which was rebounded by Seth Wilson who dove into his own bench as Jaylon Tyson watched it all occur. Stevenson got the ball back and nailed the triple to make things 52-47.
The Mountaineers — who won the rebounding battle 44 to 27, including 19 to 11 on the offensive end — built their lead to 11 en route to their second road win over the year.
"It was disappointing, frustrating," Adams said of the rebounding effort. "We talked about it every timeout. We talked about it for several days leading up to this game. That was the most important emphasis in our scouting report — that they're very physical and we did a lot of block-out drills.
"You can't win games giving up 19 offensive rebounds."
West Virginia, which averaged five three-point makes a game going into Wednesday night, poured in 10 out of a season-high 35 attempts. Joe Toussaint led the way with 22 points, while Seth Wilson added 15 points on 5-for-11 shooting from the three-point line.
"They did a great job, they did a great job of making play on the perimeter," Huggins said. "So, we had shots and we took them. That's not really, normally, the way we would play."
Pop Isaacs to get checked out
The freshman guard, who finished in double figures the last seven games, suffered an ankle injury in the second half. He finished with two points — his lowest point total since netting seven against Houston Christian back on Dec. 16.
"We don't know anything at this time," Adams said. "I know he's being X-rayed and getting and MRI. We should know something either later tonight (Wednesday) or (Thursday) morning. So appreciate everybody's prayers and hope he's OK."
Fardaws Aimaq on the mend, again
The senior post, who’s logged 72 total minutes in three previous contests, did not play Wednesday due to injury against the Mountaineers. He had missed the first 16 games this season after suffering a broken bone in his foot following an offseason workout. He’s listed as day-to-day.
What's next: Texas Tech is slated to take on LSU at 1 p.m. Saturday in a road game as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge set for ESPNU. West Virginia is scheduled to host Auburn at noon Saturday as part of the SEC-Big 12 Challenge on ESPN.
This article originally appeared on Lubbock Avalanche-Journal: Pop Isaacs suffers ankle injury, Texas Tech stays winless in Big 12 after loss to West Virginia
