WVU Basketball: ‘Eers Squeeze Past Wildcats, Return To Big 12 Championship
By Phil Poling
Esa Ahmad returned to the starting lineup against Kansas State Friday night, but it was his free throw with 20 seconds remaining that pushed the WVU basketball program into the Big 12 Championship.
After missing the final three games of the regular season and coming off the bench in their Big 12 Tournament opener, Ahmad showed Mountaineer Nation just the type of player he can become. His 15 points were a game-high, and he pulled down 10 rebounds. Four of those rebounds came on the offensive glass, including the one that led to his go-ahead free throw. He missed the front-end of the bonus, but connected on the second giving WVU the lead, 51-50.
Kansas State didn’t get a clean look at the rim against the Mountaineers, though.
After advancing the ball and calling a timeout, the Wildcats failed to get anything going. Kamau Stokes picked up his dribble on the right wing with four seconds left and got stuck there, searching for a teammate before launching a shot at the rim as time expired.
Bob Huggins’ squad started slow, though. R e a l s l o w
Senior Nathan Adrian was the first ‘Eer on the board, but his make didn’t come until 14:44. That’s right. West Virginia played five minutes and 16 seconds to start the game before scoring. It gets better. Adrian’s bucket tied things up at two!
The Wildcats would pick things up, leading WVU at the half, 25-16.
Listening to the TV broadcast, the halftime show or simply following along on Twitter, you would’ve thought WVU was getting blown out. Sixteen points was WVU’s lowest total for a half this season. WVU shot 6-32 from the field, just 18.8 percent. Jevon Carter was scoreless, shooting 0-6.
But the deficit was only nine.
It didn’t take some special game-plan to get back into it, either. Making shots and getting stops would be the recipe.
After a scoreless first half, Big 12 Sixth Man of the Year Tarik Phillip finished with thirteen points. He connected on three 3-pointers and was 2-4 from the charity stripe.
West Virginia returns to the Big 12 Championship looking to accomplish what they couldn’t last year. Tipoff with Iowa State is set for 6 p.m. Can the ‘Eers win their first title since joining the Big 12?