COMMENTARY
MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Emmitt Matthews Jr. was not the reason No. 14 West Virginia fell to No. 4 Texas on Saturday, 72-70, at the WVU Coliseum.
He will be made a likely culprit, scapegoat — or whatever you want to call it — on social media for his two missed free throws with 10.6 seconds remaining that could have given the Mountaineers a three-point lead.
And to that, it can be said fairly that Matthews definitely did not look good in that particular moment. Maybe the nerves got the better of him. Maybe the moment was just to big.
It was not too big for Texas guards Courtney Ramey and Andrew Jones, who combined for the winning play; first with Ramey driving to the rim and causing just about every WVU player on the floor to collapse on him and then Jones hauling in Ramey’s pass and nailing a wide-open 3-pointer for the win.
But, Matthews was not the reason WVU lost that game.
“There are a lot of plays that lead up to the end of the game in a close game,” said WVU guard Taz Sherman, who finished with 17 points, but was also just 3 of 10 from 3-point range. “It’s not just off one specific play.”
Despite the fact the Mountaineers led for all but seven minutes of the game and held a 70-65 lead with 1:40 remaining, this was far from a picture-perfect game played by WVU.
There were mistakes made from the beginning, from Texas starting the game scoring at will in the paint — as if it was almost five-on-zero — to missed dunks, bad 3-point shots, and, yes, missed free throws down the stretch.
Derek Culver missed the front end of a one-and-one with 1:05 left that could have made a difference.
After WVU secured an extra possession with an offensive rebound earlier in the second half, Sean McNeil launched a shot from well within the outline of the state on the floor — probably some 30-feet from the rim — for no better reason than to simply see what would happen.
The defense was just short of awful, from all the drives at the start of the game to Ramey getting by Sherman twice late in the game, something the West Virginia guard was quick to call himself out on.
“You can say he missed two free throws, whatever,” Sherman said. “You also have to talk about him getting two offensive rebounds (to set up the free throws). You’ve got to talk about me not getting a stop the play before that.”
Outside of Sherman, the WVU bench was basically nonexistent.
Gabe Osabuohien is generally the Mountaineers’ hustle player who is fun to watch, but against the Longhorns, he finished with more fouls than rebounds.
Most of those mistakes go unnoticed throughout the game, because the scoreboard still had the Mountaineers in the lead or maybe we got caught up in how many rebounds Culver was grabbing — he finished with 16 — and we figured this team would simply figure the rest out and hold on for dear life.
It didn’t happen, and so the blown lead late gets magnified about 1,000 times. When that happens, it’s hard to see anything other than Matthews.
That’s basketball. That’s human nature, too. In that moment, you forget all the good Matthews has done and remember those damn foul shots clanging off the rim.
Just know, though, that Matthews was far from being the only reason behind a devastating loss.
There was plenty of blame to go around in this one.
“We had a lot of defensive breakdowns and a lot of offensive breakdowns, as well,” Sherman continued. “We weren’t moving very well on offense. Our defense picked up a little bit in the second half and we made then turn the ball over and force up tough shots, so it wasn’t just one play that changed the game. It was a multitude of plays that changed the game.
“For all the people who want to say it was on one play, it’s just not the case.”
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