Atlanta ? West Virginia’s 1-3-1 zone defense and fondness for having its 6-foot-11 center shoot three-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, Mo. Now the second-seeded Longhorns are gearing up for a rematch against No. 6 seed West Virginia tonight 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 didn’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 threes. They make more threes 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 three-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 three-point attempts for his career. He leads West Virginia with 19.3 points a game and has made 86 three-pointers. Pittsnogle said he had spent more time under the basket in recent games.

“I think as of late we haven’t relied on the three as much as we normally do,” Pittsnogle said.