AUSTIN, Texas — In the run-up to Saturday’s do-or-die rematch against No. 20 West Virginia, Texas coach Shaka Smart showed his shorthanded team a boxing documentary on the Gatti-Ward fight trilogy.
Those pugilistic platitudes seemed cliche yet appropriate after the Mountaineers enjoyed a 35-point beating in the first meeting.
“When we played them in Morgantown, they just knocked us out,” said Longhorns guard Kerwin Roach. “This time we refused to let them knock us out.”
Roach and Matt Coleman scored 22 points each while playing marathon minutes, and Texas delivered its own roundhouse flurry of big shots during overtime to spring the upset 87-79.