Few opportunities remain for West Virginia as they are in the home stretch of the regular season.
Teetering between the bubble and being considered ‘in’ the NCAA Tournament is where the Mountaineers entered Wednesday night against Cincinnati. With a win, WVU would sweep the season series against the Bearcats, while also creating some separation in the NET rankings and Big 12 standings. With a loss, WVU’s spiral would continue, and the question marks would get bigger surrounding their March status.
WVU entered the day ranked No. 44 in the NET, while UC entered the day ranked No. 45, two teams the computers believe are close to each other played that way on Wednesday.
West Virginia had control of the game in the first half, but the second half was a completely different story.
That would be until Amani Hansberry inserted himself into the game on both ends of the floor, helping WVU close the final 7:28 of the game on a 21-12 run, lifting WVU to a 62-59 win over the Bearcats, while Hansberry finished with 17 points and a career-high 13 rebounds.
West Virginia was able to hold on for the win as, despite WVU leading by nine points with less than 10 seconds to play, Cincinnati made two 3-pointers and then the Mountaineers turned it over with 3.2 seconds to play but they would miss a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
The start of the first half had a completely different feel than the rest of the game for West Virginia (16-10, 7-8 Big 12). The Mountaineers were in full control early, as they led 25-16 due to a 10-for-15 start from the field. Javon Small scored 10 points in the first half, all coming in the first 12 minutes of the game.
Cincinnati answered WVU’s lead with a 7-0 run, and then ended the first half with an alley-oop to score two more points and send West Virginia into the break with a 29-27 lead.
The Bearcats’ strong close to the first half extended into the second half.
Cincinnati and WVU traded buckets early as WVU made four of their first eight shots from the field, but UC would not get deterred. The Bearcats would lead by as many as six, as WVU’s offense went 1-for-12 from the field.
West Virginia would finally find some life offensively as UC’s Jizzle James exited and the game began to turn. James exited with Cincinnati in front 47-41, returning with the Mountaineers in front 48-47.
During that stretch, West Virginia started to lock down defensively, helping them turn it into offense. Jonathan Powell hit a 3-pointer to force a UC timeout after an offensive rebound from Amani Hansberry. Small and Hansberry then made two more free throws to put WVU on a 9-0 run and give them a 50-47 lead. James would then insert himself into things, hitting a 3-pointer to tie the game at 50-50 with four minutes to play.
Hansberry then hit a 3-pointer of his own on the return possession, before Hansberry grabbed the defensive rebound as WVU got a stop. Then, Hansberry found Powell in the corner for a 3-pointer as West Virginia took a 56-50 lead with 2:51 to play as Cincinnati called another timeout.
After the timeout, both teams struggled offensively as the next three possessions ended with each team coming up empty in terms of points. That would be until Hansberry would go to work in the paint, hitting a layup, to put WVU in front by eight.
DayDay Thomas returned with a 3-pointer for the Bearcats, as the Mountaineers led 58-53 with 1:11 to play. Cincinnati would try to trap WVU but Small found Powell for a layup.
The game would seemingly be over until Dan Skillings banked in a 3-pointer and then WVU turned it over leading to another 3-pointer from Skillings as WVU's lead was suddenly three points with 4.0 seconds to play after the Mountaineers led by nine just seconds earlier.
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