Bob Huggins tries to make sense of officiating in West Virginia loss

Everything WVU threw up was challenged by a Gonzaga defense that is ranked as the nation’s most efficient, and when it went to a zone for the final 7 or so minutes, its players in foul trouble, that really left WVU staggering around unable to do anything. Instead, he couldn’t find room and pitched the ball over to Daxter Miles Jr. with nearly no time left. Williams-Goss had 10. They haven’t allowed a team to shoot 50 percent this season and allowed just one opponent to reach 80 points on January 5.

The Mountaineers rebounded two misses on their final possesion but couldn’t get another shot off before the buzzer.. Gonzaga would respond quickly, provided by timely shots from Jordan Matthews. Instead Carter went iso three times and tried to take three increasingly hard 3s.

If the Mountaineers went quickly, they would’ve had enough time for a two-for-one. “If I am in that position again, I’ll take it to the basket”. That doesn’t make WVU an offensive juggernaut or anything close to the best offensive team left in the tournament, but it means West Virginia is a balanced team that can defend and score. He already had four three-pointers on the night and he was the only Mountaineer with 20 points – he was the only West Virginia with even ten points. As Melson put it, “We’re not used to playing teams like West Virginia”. Adrian (two for seven), Miles Jr. Bob Huggins’ Mountaineers have wins over Baylor, Kansas and Iowa State this season; they know how to win tough games.

There were 51 fouls, which caused the game to last approximately 2.5 hours. WVU was out of timeouts, and Carter missed twice before the Bulldogs covered everything and forced the ball back near halfcourt as time expired. Plenty of time existed for the team to tie or even win the game.

“I think we have a bunch of guys that have played in a lot of different venues with big crowds”, said Huggins. “So we consistently always play as fast as anybody”. “But you can’t shoot 16 of 60”.

Bernard scored 15 points and J.P Macura added 14 for Musketeers, the lowest remaining seed in the tournament.

West Virginia’s Daxter Miles went to the foul line with 1:10 remaining, and missed both free throws. Gonzaga has three players – Zach Collins (7-foot), Ryan Edwards (7-1), Przemek Karnowski (7-1) – on the roster who are at least 7-feet tall. West Virginia stayed in the game by making 21 of 29 free throws and forcing 16 turnovers.

This game was horrendous offensively from the start, but this sequence pretty much sums up West Virginia. “And we just went up against the supposed bad boys and pulled out a victory”.

Mountaineers guard Jevon Carter had a game-high 21 points, but missed the two 3-pointers in the final seconds while being harassed by Nigel Williams-Goss.

Gonzaga was headed for another excruciating loss, shy of the Final Four, short of vindication, another opportunity for all the skeptics to prattle on about how this team still can’t win the big one.

“But you tell me another team in the country that can shoot 26 percent against a No. 1 seed and could have, should have won that game”. “It’s big. I would love nothing more for our fans, for our alums, our past players, and most importantly, our coaches, to get them to a Final Four”. WVU had a design to get Carter open, which didn’t work.

West Virgnia held a 34-28 rebounding edge and shot 50 percent from the floor.