MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Texas’ Kai Jones was simply trying to make a play.
He wound up being the quarterback in what turned out to be THE highlight of the season for West Virginia freshman forward Oscar Tshiebwe.
As he was falling out of bounds along the baseline, Jones’ pass somehow made it past everyone else on the court and started rolling toward WVU’s bench at the other end.
“I didn’t know I was going to catch that,” the 6-foot-9, 258-pound Tshiebwe said. “I just said, ‘Let me try.’ ”
The seconds that last forever
Three seconds. That’s what it took for Tshiebwe to get to full speed, race down the court and stop on a dime to corral the ball that somehow stayed in bounds right in front of the Mountaineers’ bench.
“He can really run,” WVU coach Bob Huggins said. “I don’t know that I’ve had any bigs or coached against any that runs like he does.”
Somehow, it’s the seconds before a big moment — the build-up — that has helped create the best moments at WVU under Huggins.
It is Da’Sean Butler looking up the floor and firing a 75-foot pass to a wide open Joe Alexander, who actually took a moment to pause to allow Connecticut’s Stanley Robinson to catch up with him.
It is Truck Bryant flying up the floor and weaving through one Pitt defender after another, while Devin Ebanks carefully trailed right behind him.
It is Emmitt Matthews Jr., grabbing a rebound at one end of the floor against Texas Tech and deciding to go coast-to-coast rather than pass off to a teammate.
Those led to the three best dunks I’ve seen at WVU in the Huggins’ era.
Sorry, Oscar, your dunk against Texas on Monday was truly an amazing feat of athletic skill and grace.
In this category, you’re still No. 4.
Time to send it in
Once Tshiebwe grabbed the ball, “I looked back and no one was close,” he said. “I said, ‘I’m going to go dunk the ball.’ ”
Huggins’ thoughts: “It happened pretty quick,” he said. “I wondered what he was doing, to be honest with you.”
It took Tshiebwe just three steps along the baseline, which basically served as his runway, to go up with one hand and tomahawk dunk the ball over Courtney Ramey.
Ramey, unfortunately, was the Longhorn who had shown the most hustle on the play and tried to contest Tshiebwe’s dunk, even though he was giving up six inches and 73 pounds to Tshiebwe.
“We’re not going to forget how he ran the ball down when it was almost out of bounds,” WVU forward Derek Culver said. “I don’t understand how he did it. Oscar just took off.”
Texas Tech’s Tariq Owens was the best shot-blocker in the Big 12 last season and was a good seven feet ahead of Matthews in that 2019 Big 12 tournament game.
By the time Matthews had reached midcourt, Owens, who is 6-foot-10, was simply jogging in order to time his jump with Matthews.
Still, Owens had no chance, as the smaller Matthews went up with both hands for his dunk.
Matthews’ momentum kept carrying his body into the air, with his knees nearly hitting the bottom of the backboard.
Ebanks took in Bryant’s assist and leaped off his left leg just in front of the restrictive area arc and slammed it home with his right hand over Pitt’s Jermaine Dixon, who had long been a thorn in the Mountaineers’ side in the old Big East days.
They’re all chasing Alexander’s dunk from the 2008 Big East tournament.
He hauled in Butler’s long outlet pass a few feet to the left of the foul line and his body turned in such a way that he saw Robinson closing in on the play.
Two steps later, Alexander went up with both hands to close out the 78-72 victory over the 16th-ranked Huskies.
The aftermath
The rims at the Coliseum has long since stopped rattling, but the story of Tshiebwe’s dunk is not yet complete.
Alexander’s dunk got the Mountaineers off the NCAA tournament bubble and carried them to an upset of Duke and into the Sweet 16 in Huggins’ first season at WVU.
A year later, Ebanks’ slam became a preview of a team that was destined to make a Final Four run the following season.
Matthews’ flush against Texas Tech was maybe the start of building the team’s confidence that has led to a 15-3 record and a No. 14 ranking heading into Saturday’s Big 12/SEC Challenge game against Missouri.
What will Tshiebwe’s dunk lead to? That question has yet to be answered.
If nothing else, his never-ending effort leads to one great teaching moment to his teammates that no play is too far out of reach.
“The ball was off them, so we’re yelling at Oscar ‘No, no, no!’ ” WVU guard Jordan McCabe said. “I think he was running too fast to hear anything. So he picks it up in the corner, takes one dribble and I’m thinking he’s going to get fouled, but he puts it on the guy’s head.”
