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West Virginia led Oklahoma 72-69 in the closing seconds Wednesday night to open the Big 12 Conference tournament but the Sooners had the basketball.
The ball left Christian James hands on the right wing and fell through the net as time expired.
Immediately there were mixed emotions from both sides.
Oklahoma celebrated a potential game-tying shot. Lamont West, who had a hand up defending James on the play, also believed the game was heading to overtime.
“I was nervous,” West admitted.
Jermaine Haley didn’t even realize the difference in the score was three instead of two and actually thought the basket had cost his team the game.
“I don’t know if you saw me at the end but I was on the ground thinking we lost,” he said.
But there must be something to end of game reviews in Kansas City going in West Virginia’s favor against Oklahoma and this was no different. The basket was good, but for the second time in as many games against the Sooners in the Sprint Center the Mountaineers got the benefit of a review.
James left foot was on the line making it only a two, with images of Buddy Hield’s potential game-winning basket that was waved off after review in the 2016 tournament dancing in everybody’s head.
For the second time in three tries, West Virginia had outpaced the Sooners this time by a single point and more importantly kept alive their hopes of a potential run in the Big 12 Tournament. A run that if successful is the only avenue for the 13-19 Mountaineers to punch a ticket to the big dance.
The Mountaineers simply out-toughed Oklahoma winning the rebounding margin by 10, with 11 more offensive rebounds which turned into 10 more second chance points and 9 more shot attempts. That’s a lot of numbers in one sentence but it’s basically a diagram of how West Virginia wins basketball games.
“Our goal was to come out here and play hard and we wanted to give it all we got because we didn’t want to go home early,” West said. “I feel like this is the start of a new season.”
That new season gets immensely more difficult tonight as West Virginia is set to play No. 2 seed and Big 12-co-champions Texas Tech. The same Red Raiders club that obliterated the Mountaineers in the last meeting between the two in Lubbock by 31 points a little over a month ago.
But this is a different West Virginia team and now they’ll have a chance to prove just how much.
“We’re a completely different team from when we were playing in Lubbock. I think all of our guys in the locker room know that. It is a new season, we’ve kind of been waiting for it because we’ve gotten better since we’ve gotten things figured out as a team,” freshman point guard Jordan McCabe said.
Head coach Bob Huggins simply referred to Texas Tech as a “really good,” team and that can’t be questioned. Chris Beard’s club is one of the best defensive teams in the league and employs the same tough brand of basketball used traditionally by the Mountaineers. Beard was tabbed as the Big 12 Coach of the Year after taking a team that was picked seventh in the pre-season to a share of the league crown.
Tip-off is set for 7 p.m.
They also feature Big 12 Player of the Year Jarrett Culver on the offensive side and veteran leadership. Huggins is hoping that the matchup resembles more of what happened in Morgantown to open the Big 12 schedule with the Mountaineers losing at the end than the previous meeting.
“They’ve got a lot of components and were going to go play hard and see what happens. We played them really well in Morgantown, it was a real close game. Hopefully it’s a real close game,” he said.
It’s a good feeling anytime you can get a win though and this young West Virginia club continues to show signs that it is growing up when it matters the most. One game down and three left to go if the Mountaineers want any shot at keeping their four-year streak of tournament appearances alive.
Adding to the intrigue is there are multiple reports including from Jeff Goodman that say junior center Sagaba Konate could play and will be a game time decision. He hasn’t played since the Pittsburgh game since early December.
The odds are stacked against them with a short roster and a difficult road ahead starting with the Red Raiders but this is March after all, isn’t it?
“They’re having fun, they’re playing hard, they’re excited about playing together and they’re trying to do the things that we ask them to do that we had other guys do,” Huggins said.
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