MORGANTOWN — Not to get too technical here, but in its final game of a dismal season, the WVU men’s basketball team found yet another way to lose.
A 90-85 loss against Cincinnati on Tuesday in the play-in round of the Big 12 tournament saw the Mountaineers (9-23) give up a 16-point lead with 11:45 remaining.
How? Three technical fouls were called on WVU players, all coming in the span of less than five minutes and all of them costly.
“At the end of the day, it came down to discipline,” WVU head coach Josh Eilert said. “The parade to the free-throw line, things that we can control, you know, discipline in terms of not getting technical fouls.”
Cincinnati (19-13) walked out of the T-Mobile Center in Kansas City, Mo. still clinging to an outside chance of getting to the NCAA tournament, but the Mountaineers gave the Bearcats plenty of unnecessary help.
Those three technical fouls — first on WVU guard Kobe Johnson, then Jesse Edwards and then RaeQuan Battle — led to an extra 11 points for Cincinnati.
After falling behind 64-48 with 11:45 left, those extra 11 points were part of a 20-4 Cincinnati run that tied the game at 68 with 7:24 remaining.
You read that right, WVU gave up a 16-point lead and was whistled for three technical fouls, and all it took for WVU to unravel was four minutes and 21 seconds.
“I think our guys came out of the under 12 timeout, I believe we’re down 16,” Cincinnati head coach Wes Miller said. “They just played with a different approach those next couple possessions and I think we could feel some momentum turning there.”
Johnson’s tech came after he had just given the Mountaineers the 16-point lead after scoring a basket after posting up.
As he turned around to go play defense, Johnson was whistled for taunting after making a mean face at the Cincinnati defender.
Edwards was whistled after he got mixed up with Cincinnati forward Aziz Bandaogo during a stoppage of play.
Edwards appeared to put his hand on Bandaogo, who then put on an Oscar-like performance by falling to the ground, and Edwards was charged with the technical.
Battle got a technical foul after he disagreed with a foul call and then made his way over to the Cincinnati players’ huddle.
It’s not clear if Battle traded words with the Bearcats, but the refs called a technical foul just as both teams were headed for a timeout. Cincinnati guard Simas Lukosius — he finished with a career high 31 points — was a perfect 6 of 6 on the technical free throws.
The Bearcats also scored an additional five points on getting the extra possessions after Lukosius’ free throws.
Even all of that does not tell the whole story.
As quickly as WVU unraveled, the Mountaineers appeared to gather themselves for one final run.
Josiah Harris nailed a 3-pointer that gave WVU an 80-75 lead with 4:21 remaining, but then the final wheel fell off for the Mountaineers.
Day Day Thomas — he finished with 29 points — nailed three 3-pointers over the final 3:27 and Dan Skillings Jr. scored on a spinning drive through the lane that gave the Bearcats an 85-84 advantage they would never relinquish with 1:24 remaining.
“My coaches and my team just tell me to keep shooting the ball,” Thomas said. “So I’m always going to have confidence in myself to keep making plays, keep making shots. I hit a big-time shot today.”
Cincinnati, who advances to play 16th-ranked Kansas at 9:30 p.m. today, made a lot of big-time shots.
The Bearcats made 16 3-pointers — out of 29 made baskets on the day — and tied Pitt for the most threes ever made against the Mountaineers, who ended their season on a six-game losing streak.
“Couldn’t figure out a way to get a hand up,” Eilert said. “They got a lot of dare shots out there, which credit to them, they made.”
Jesse Edwards led five WVU players in double figures with 17 points, but the Mountaineers wrapped up the season with a program-record 23 losses and their .281 winning percentage was the worst in the team’s history.
