ATLANTA — West Virginia's 1-3-1 zone defense and fondness for having its 6-foot-11 center shoot 3-pointers make the Mountaineers a difficult NCAA tournament draw — even for a coach who already survived the challenge in the regular season.

Texas beat the Mountaineers 76-75 on Nov. 21 in the Guardians Classic in Kansas City. Now the second-seeded Longhorns are gearing up for a rematch against No. 6 seed West Virginia on Thursday in the Atlanta Regional semifinals.

Pulling out the tapes of the earlier matchup didn't seem to embolden Texas coach Rick Barnes, who was asked Wednesday whether devising a game plan for West Virginia could be compared to a football coach preparing for a wishbone attack.

Barnes said the comparison with the old-school wishbone offense doesn't fit West Virginia.

"I don't know if I would call it a wishbone more than I would call it that Fun-n-Gun because they spread you out," Barnes said. "They're going to shoot 25 3s. They make more 3s than any team in the country. It's almost like playing against a no-huddle offense."

South Carolina football coach Steve Spurrier ruled the Southeastern Conference at Florida through most of the 1990s with his innovative Fun-n-Gun offense.

West Virginia ranks second in the nation with 10.1 3-pointers per game, and its total of 322 3-pointers broke last year's school record of 319.

Senior center Kevin Pittsnogle is second in the school record books, shooting 40.9 percent on 3-point attempts for his career. He leads West Virginia with 19.3 points a game and has made 86 3-pointers.

Pittsnogle said he has spent more time under the basket in recent games.

"I think as of late we haven't relied on the 3 as much as we normally do," Pittsnogle said. "We kind of relied more on penetration and kicking it out and getting 15-foot jump shots."

Mike Gansey, a 6-4 forward, is second on the team with 72 3-pointers and 16.8 points per game. Patrick Beilein, the coach's son, has made 63 3-pointers.

"You know they're probably going to shoot 25 3s, and they're capable of making more than half of them," Barnes said.

There's nothing gimmicky about West Virginia's success, which is built on more than the 3-point shot.

Coach John Beilein also stresses strong defense. The Mountaineers led the Big East with its plus-7.44 turnover ratio, and they allow 63.1 points a game.

Texas struggled against West Virginia's zone defense and committed a season-high 24 turnovers in its narrow victory in November. West Virginia led 40-35 at halftime and 75-72 with 1:30 left before missing three straight one-and-one free throws. Pittsnogle had two of the misses.

"If we turn it over 24 times now, we won't have a chance," Barnes said.