MORGANTOWN — Jermaine Haley began the second half Saturday on his backside.
By the end of the game, he had dumped Kansas on its own behind.
The 6-foot-7 point guard entered his own name into West Virginia lore with his drive down the right side of the lane against Kansas freshman guard Quentin Grimes that ended with the game-winner with 8.5 seconds remaining in the Mountaineers’ 65-64 upset over the No. 7 Jayhawks, in front of 12,657 inside the WVU Coliseum.
“I just feel blessed that [Bob Huggins] gave me the opportunity to put me in a position to do things like that,” said Haley, who was a perfect 5 of 5 from the field for 13 points. “Man, it feels good to just get a win, I can tell you that.”
It felt good, because it was the first conference win of the season for the Mountaineers (9-9, 1-5 Big 12) that ended a five-game drought that brought with it a ton of frustration. It was also West Virginia’s first win against a top 10-ranked opponent since knocking off Tre Young and Oklahoma last January in Morgantown.
“We were actually looking to get inside, but they denied it,” Haley said of the game-winner. “When I got it, I saw the lane. I was going to go off a screen, but I thought I could get to the hoop.”
And even with Grimes’ arm pressed against Haley’s face, he somehow got the ball up just enough to, well, create pandemonium.
The Coliseum was suddenly at a feverish pitch, as Kansas tried to respond in the final seven seconds.
“It was my fault, I should’ve called timeout,” Kansas coach Bill Self said after suffering his fifth loss in seven games at the Coliseum. “I thought with the broken floor and you’re down one, I thought for sure we’d drive it.”
Instead, Lagerald Vick took a 3-pointer that bounced off the rim and into the arms of 6-foot-9 teammate Dedric Lawson, who had himself a solid day with 15 points and 11 rebounds.
Lawson was five feet from the basket with a chance to win the game for the Jayhawks (15-3, 4-2).
“I had the same thoughts as you,” West Virginia forward Derek Culver said. “I said, ‘That’s going down.’ His shot went down and then came back out and that’s when I said, ‘Wow, this is really happening.’ ”
Moments later, the court was filled with students all looking to get as close to Haley as possible and celebrate.
“I’m glad that the fans haven’t given up on us and they still come to the games,” Haley said. “Hopefully, we can get a few more wins.”
It was a win that started off in the second half with Haley on his butt, as he fell to the floor, but somehow still had the awareness to bounce a pass to Culver, who drove the baseline for a dunk.
“I don’t know how he got that pass to me,” Culver said.
The final moments of the game, too, all went right for the Mountaineers, who trailed 64-58 with 2:35 remaining.
“We’ve had a hard time stopping people, that’s not a secret,” Huggins said. “Everybody watches tape. Everybody knows what’s going on. We’ve worked and worked on it. I think it’s a matter of being mentally tough enough now to do the right thing.”
Trailing by six, in a season where it mostly has gone wrong for the Mountaineers, the breaks suddenly went their way.
Wes Harris nailed a 3-pointer with 2:13 left that cut the deficit in half and then came away with a crucial rebound after Kansas guard Marcus Garrett missed.
After surviving a turnover from Culver, in which he snared a rebound, but his outlet pass was intercepted by Garrett, West Virginia’s defense held again when Vick missed a 3-pointer with 28 seconds remaining, which set up Haley’s winning play.
Huggins chose to go without a timeout because, “I didn’t want Bill to switch something on defense,” he said. “What we were doing was working and we were getting kind of what we wanted, so there was no sense to call timeout.”
Kansas, too, failed to call a timeout after Haley’s drive, but Self said he wished Lawson would have taken an extra moment to collect himself when he grabbed the offensive rebound off Vick’s final missed 3-pointer.
“He had more time,” Self said. “I think he shot withabout one-and-a-half seconds left. He probably could have gathered himself. We had no chance on that possession. That’s obviously my fault.”
In all, the final minute covered three misses by the Jayhawks and Haley’s make.
“It seemed like 20 minutes to me,” said Culver, who finished with 11 points and seven rebounds. “I know it was only a minute in real time, but it felt like a lot longer than that to me. I thought it was never going to end.”
James “Beetle” Bolden, who is battling the flu bug and needed an IV to keep him hydrated before the game, added 12 points for the Mountaineers, who host Baylor at 9 p.m. on Monday.
