MORGANTOWN — The basketball came off the hand of Kansas’ Hunter Dickinson, as if he were a pocket-passing quarterback rather than a 7-foot-2 basketball center.
It flew through the air in desperation, but landed with one heck of an opportunity for the Jayhawks to add one more heartbreak to WVU’s resumé inside Allen Fieldhouse.
“That play was crazy, because I thought they were going to call a timeout, because they still had one,” WVU forward Toby Okani recalled about the final 1.8 seconds of West Virginia’s 62-61 victory against No. 7 Kansas last Tuesday.
Nearly 80 feet away stood Kansas forward K.J. Adams, who hauled in the pass and now had the 1.8 seconds to get off a potential 15-foot game-winner.
Behind Adams stood freshman Jonathan Powell, a young man who had spent the previous 39 minutes looking like anything other than a freshman.
“I thought he did a really good job,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said of Powell, who finished with 11 points and four rebounds against the Jayhawks. “Like a lot of freshmen, he can get a little sped up and anxious. Our whole thing going into the game with him was just slow down. I thought he did an unbelievable job. I never felt like he was rushed and that says a lot about him.”
Adams caught the ball and Powell reached out. Adams turned slightly toward the basket, as Powell continued to supply pressure.
Maybe it was too much pressure, at least that’s how the Kansas fans felt after the loss, as Adams’ last-second attempt went into the air but nowhere near the basket.
How did WVU players view the play?
“If it was a foul or not; in my head, it wasn’t a foul, because he’s on my team,” Okani said with a smile. “I just took it as that. They’re not going to call a foul, thank you. I’m not the officials, but thank God the officials were on our side for that particular play.”
In the aftermath, while WVU celebrated in the locker room, Okani said Powell never made mention of the moment.
“I don’t think he needs to,” Okani said. “The refs spoke for him; it wasn’t a foul.”
