MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — Sometimes the finer details of the bigger moments get lost, and that may have been the case Saturday, in West Virginia’s 19-point comeback victory against No. 12 Texas.
In between the drama that filled the final moments, a near brawl on the Texas bench between teammates Andrew Jones and Courtney Ramey and WVU’s comeback bid after trailing, 62-49, with 18:18 remaining was this lost nugget:
The Mountaineers completed its 84-82 come-from-behind win after not making a single basket over the final six minutes of the game.
Seems improbable, right?
“We’re a resilient bunch,” was the way WVU forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. described it, in what may be the understatement of the season.
This resilient bunch just improved to 4-1 on the season in games they trailed by double figures in the second half. No. 13 WVU (15-6, 8-4 Big 12) is 5-2 on the season in games it trailed by at least nine points in the second half.
The comebacks
- NOV. 27: Trailed Western Kentucky by 10 with 15:37 remaining. Came back to win, 70-64.
- DEC. 18: Trailed Iowa State by nine with 16:20 remaining. Came back to win, 70-65.
- JAN. 2: Trailed Oklahoma by 18 at halftime. Came back to tie the game four times in the second half, but could never grab a lead in a 75-71 loss.
- JAN. 4: Trailed Oklahoma State by 19 with 11:15 remaining. Came back to win the game, 87-84.
- JAN. 25: Trailed Texas Tech by 12 with 12:25 remaining. Came back to win the game, 88-87.
- FEB. 13: Trailed Oklahoma by nine with 6:35 remaining in regulation. Came back to tie the game, but lost in double overtime, 91-90.
- FEB. 20: Trailed Texas by 19 with 18:18 remaining. Came back to win the game, 84-82.
The 19-point comeback against the Longhorns tied for the largest WVU comeback in Big 12 play.
You don’t have to go too far back to find the first time it happened: Jan. 4, in an 87-84 comeback win on the road against Oklahoma State.
“I’m glad (the players) like it, because I sure don’t,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said, not joking one bit.
“They ramped up their defensive intensity, and we got a little tentative,” added Texas head coach Shaka Smart. “And they made some tough shots.”
The latest comeback was filled with a number of stories, beginning with WVU assistant coach Erik Martin, who looked into the players’ eyes during a timeout and came away with a huge prediction.
“They went up (19) and we go into a timeout and coach Martin said, ‘We’re going to win this game. It’s going to be one of the hardest things we’ll do, but we’re going to win this game,’ ” Matthews said. “We did just that. That’s kind of the story of us.”
WVU guard Deuce McBride nailed a 3-pointer to tie the game at 76 with 6:27 remaining.
That was the final basket WVU would score. Its final eight points came from the free-throw line and the Mountaineers held off Texas even after going scoreless over the final 1:48 and getting hit with a shot-clock violation with 55 seconds remaining.
The final play of the game may be discussed for some time.
With three-tenths of a second left, Texas guard Matt Coleman III inbounded a lob pass to teammate Jericho Sims, who appeared to have a decent look at a tip-in to tie the game.
The tip came up short and it looked like McBride got a good piece of Sims’ arm on the play to help it come up short.
“Did I foul him?” McBride said. “It wasn’t called, so I guess I didn’t.”
Before the play even began, there was a wrestling match between Texas’ Greg Brown and WVU forward Derek Culver and both players went to the ground as the pass was thrown in.
“That was a physical play before the ball came in,” Smart said. “I guess I’ll leave it at that.”
The victory moved WVU up to fourth place in the Big 12 standings, as the Mountaineers travel to TCU on Tuesday for the second of a three-game swing through the state of Texas.
Who knows what levels of resiliency the Mountaineers will need for that game?
“This group, generally when they’re challenged, they’ll step up and try to meet the challenge,” Huggins said.
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