On a night when West Virginia struggled to generate stops in the second half, it’s somewhat ironic that the two biggest plays of the game in a 76-72 win over Iowa State came on that end.
And both were generated by senior Gabe Osabuohien.
After being subbed in on a Cyclones timeout with 1:16 left, the first play came with only two-points separating the two teams. After a rebound fell into the waiting arms of Solomon Young, Osabuohien was able to block the shot attempt and the Mountaineers were able to come out with the basketball.
“On that play somebody had help on the drive and I just had rotated to the big under the rim. He got an offensive rebound and just made a defensive play and blocked the shot,” he said.
But the best was yet to come. After an empty possession on the opposite end with a shot clock violation, West Virginia was going to need one more stop if they wanted to win on the road. With only 15-seconds remaining, Iowa State again used a timeout to set up a potential game-tying or even winning play.
Cyclones guard Rasir Bolton had generated success off the bounce all night and attempted it once again except this time he collided into Osabuohien who had set himself up in position to take a charge. The two players collided, but the whistled was inexplicably not blown.
“I saw their point guard had been driving all game, so I knew he was going to attack the basket. So, I tried to get in front and take a charge. I guess it was a no-call,” Osabuohien said.
Still, the ball sputtered out from the collision and senior guard Taz Sherman corralled it. After being fouled with six ticks left on the clock, he’d effectively end the game by hitting a pair of free throws.
The two players collided at full speed, which was alarming to Osabuohien’s teammates considering he had already left the game once with a hip pointer. But he was able to stop the momentum of Bolton and the Mountaineers were able to gather the ball to put the final nail in the road win.
“Gabe’s a solid dude, so he stopped his momentum but they both just collided like full on, chest to chest and it was a scary situation. But I’m just glad they’re both O.K. and nobody got hurt. I don’t know what to call that either a charge or a no-call, but I got free throws out of it,” Sherman said.
It’s what Osabuohien’s teammates have become accustomed to seeing in practice and game settings. His impact comes in the type of plays that many don’t want to try to make.
“I just expect him to go out there and play defense. Take charges and get scrap buckets because that’s just the type of guy he is,” junior forward Emmitt Matthews said.
Osabuohien only played 13-total minutes and only 6 of that was in the second half. Some of that was directly related to conditioning as the Mountaineers wanted to play him more but he is still working his way back after missing time away from the team.
The senior didn’t even score and finished with 4 rebounds 2 steals and that aforementioned block down the stretch. However, it’s exactly those type of plays that keep him in the lineup for the Mountaineers.
“Play of the game without a question. As it turned out it was better for us. I thought it was a charge, but that would have given us the ball out of bounds instead of having Taz got to the foul line,” head coach Bob Huggins said of the final defensive sequence.
West Virginia won on the defensive end, but the Mountaineers certainly struggled again on that end of the floor in the second half up until that point.
After leading by as many as 15-points with 9:20 left, things got as close as a single point down the stretch. Some of that is because West Virginia didn’t make a field goal over the final 5:46 of the game, but defensive failures loomed large.
West Virginia allowed the Cyclones to hit 17-33 shots in the second half and finish at 1.139 points per possession on 36 total trips. That was 1.413 points per shooting possession if you eliminate the turnovers, which is unacceptable down the stretch run of a game.
The Mountaineers were able to overcome those issues but given the difficulty of the schedule ahead fixing things on that end will be paramount to avoid relying on late game defensive heroics.
“Think you have to care. Care about your man scoring on you. Care about not helping your teammate by not making a rotation. Think you have to care about not blocking somebody out. We get ahead and we just kind of stand around,” Huggins said.
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