With their NCAA Tournament hopes in the balance, the Mountaineers had a must-win matchup at home against the Bearcats of Cincinnati. The game was back and forth, and despite seemingly putting the game away, within the eight seconds of the game, the Bearcats scored six unanswered points and had a shot to tie, sending it to overtime.
But luck was on the side of Darian DeVries and the Mountaineers as the Bearcats missed a wide-open look at the top of the key as time expired, giving the Mountaineers the 62-59 victory in a must-win game.
When asked about giving up their nine-point lead in the final eight seconds, DeVries told the press, “It felt like we almost put the game away.”
For many fans, it felt the same way. With eight seconds left in the game, the Mountaineers were up 62-53, and fans were starting to trickle their way out of the stadium to beat the post-game traffic.
However, after two clutch three-pointers and a costly turnover by Sincere Harris, the game was within one score in the blink of an eye. Fans started lining the concourse wondering how West Virginia managed to get themselves into that situation.
The Bearcats inbounded the ball and found a wide-open player at the top of the key. “When that ball was in the air, I was like, that’s going in,” said DeVries.
Fortunately for DeVries and the Mountaineer fanbase, that was not the case; the basketball bounced off the side of the rim, and the game went final.
“Like we told them in the locker room, that’s why you never, never take for granted until that clock hits zero because there are just so many things that could happen,” said DeVries. “I’m just thankful that the ball didn’t go in.”
In close games, there need to be clutch players who have clutch moments, and for the Mountaineers, that player was freshman guard, Jonathan Powell. Powell struggled from the field throughout the duration of the game, shooting 0-5. However, his coach never lost confidence in him.
“I watch him work every day, so it’s like when you put in the work and I watch him shoot every day and he makes the shots he makes, it’s going to happen,” said DeVries. “For a guy who shoots it the way he does in practice every day and puts that amount of time in, he’s always going to have the green light from us.”
With that green light of confidence from his coach in his back pocket, Powell hit two massive three-pointers to help the Mountaineers squeeze their way past the Bearcats.
The Mountaineers are not out of the woods yet. After checking a huge home victory against an in-conference opponent off of their checklist, West Virginia travels to the Lone Star state to face the No. 9 ranked Texas Tech Red Raiders.
With their chances of making the NCAA Tournament becoming slimmer by the day, a win on Saturday would be a crucial step in securing one of the highly coveted spots in the March Madness Basketball Tournament.
