WVU Sports: A History Of Heartbreaking Defeat
By Phil Poling
An OT Loss To The Cardinals
Receiving 6 percent of the fan vote in our most painful losses poll, the 2005 Elite 8 loss ranks third. One reason this loss hurt so bad was because West Virginia started the game so well. With a 40-27 lead at the half, Louisville was on the brink of getting blown out by the Mountaineers. Francisco Garcia and Co. had other plans.
With 7:38 to go in the 2nd half, Herber made the ‘Eers 15th 3-pointer of the game – a school record at the time. The only bad thing? WVU would only make three the rest of the game, including overtime. Senior Cardinal Larry O’Bannon scored all of his 24 points in the second-half and overtime. Garcia added 13 points, eight assists and four rebounds before fouling out. Louisville only made 11 3-pointers as a team, but Taquan Dean made seven of them and totaled 23 points. Louisville took their first lead since the score was 3-0 on a pair of free throws from O’Bannon in overtime, making it 79-77. Gansey tied things at 82 after converting a steal into a layup, but that was pretty much all she wrote for the Mountaineers. Here’s the full game on Youtube.com if you a box of tissues and about two hours.