MORGANTOWN, W. Va. — KK Deans was a 36-second phenom Friday night.
West Virginia’s sophomore guard, having struggled with her shot for 39 minutes, became an instant hero in the Mountaineers’ 58-56 victory against Kansas State inside Kansas City’s Municipal Auditorium that advanced WVU to the Big 12 tournament semifinals.
After WVU forward Blessing Ejifor tipped an inbounds pass with 5.5 seconds remaining, Deans scooped it up and raced the length of the court for a driving lay-up at the buzzer to secure the victory.
“It fell into KK’s hands and I kept yelling, “You got time, you got time, go, go, go,’ ” WVU head coach Mike Carey said. “I was afraid she would just pull up at half-court.”
With the final minute Deans had, she may have just made a half-courter.
The final minute was so much more than just the final shot for Deans, who finished with 11 points and four assists.
WVU trailed, 55-48, as the game clock began to tick off the final 60 seconds.
The comeback began with Kysre Gondrezick’s 3-pointer with 54 seconds remaining.
After Kansas State guard Christianna Carr went 1 for 2 at the line to make it, 56-51, Dean raced down the court and scored on a reverse lay-up with 36 seconds left.
She then forced a turnover by tying up Carr in the corner that gave the Mountaineers an extra possession.
Then it got really good.
Gondrezick missed a 3-pointer, but Deans was there for the offensive rebound.
She then dribbled back out to the 3-point line and nailed it to tie the game at 56 with 18 seconds left.
“When she hit that three, I felt good,” Carey said. “We stayed in that press and got the ball tied up a couple of times. KK plays hard.”
Kansas State (9-18), trying to become the first-ever No. 10 seed to advance to the Big 12 semifinals, had the ball knocked out of bounds on their final possession with 5.5 seconds left.
Game officials reviewed replays to make sure which team touched the ball before going out of bounds.
During the break, “It’s funny how it played itself out,” said Gondrezick, who finished with 26 points. “In the timeout, KK asked coach, ‘When we get the ball, do you want us to call timeout?’ I told her we would talk about it when we get the ball.”
Moments later, Blessing Ejifor tipped the inbounds pass thrown in by Emilee Ebert, who was looking to lob the ball in to 6-foot-6 center Ayoka Lee.
“We knew they were going to lob,” Carey said. “There’s five seconds left. What are you going to do? You’re going to lob. We played the lob and was able to get the tip.”
And Deans was off to the races.
She picked up the loose ball near the 3-point line and raced to the other end.
Kansas State guard Rachel Ranke was just a step ahead of her and tried to meet Deans at the basket, but Deans sort of leaned to her right.
As she began to lose her balance, Deans’ shot banked in as the final buzzer sounded.
In the final 36 seconds, Deans had seven points, a steal and an offensive rebound.
“They just don’t quit,” Carey said. “I don’t have to pump them up when the game is close. Man, when that game is close, they have a lot of heart and they know what they’re doing.”
The Mountaineers (20-5) recorded their 14th 20-win season under Carey and will advance to Saturday’s semifinal round against either Oklahoma State or Oklahoma.
The Cowboys and Sooners played late Friday night and the Mountaineers split with both schools during the regular season.
“We have to come out and play better (Saturday), but we need to enjoy this one tonight,” Carey said. “We did a great job of executing at the end, but we didn’t execute during the game. We have to do a better job.”
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