Hertzel: Win over Kansas Jayhawks one for the ages for West Virginia Mountaineers
Trending
MORGANTOWN, W.Va (WV News) -- You could sense what was coming as Kerr Kriisa stood at the free throw line shooting two free throws with 2 seconds to play on Saturday night, free throws that would guarantee that there were no “Hail Marys”, and no miracles left that could beat the West Virginia basketball team.
This was one of those games that seem to come along whenever Kansas comes to town. This year, it was with them holding the No. 3 spot in the Associated Press poll while WVU was trying to put pieces of its team back together again after what had been a 6-11 start.
The setting was wild. More than 12,000 had ventured out on a night made for hot chocolate in front of the fireplace, not to trudge to the most well-known building in Morgantown -- the Coliseum -- to watch what most expected to be another Mountaineer loss.
It’s kind of funny that WVU had been saying for a month that it would become a better team when their center and best player, Jesse Edwards, came back from an injured wrist to play, making them a complete team for the first time all season.
Funny? Yeah, because Edwards dressed for the game, practiced for the first time the day before and was available but not yet ready to go. He was on the bench, twice conversing with coach Josh Eilert about maybe getting in and volunteering to do so if needed.
But his teammates saw they didn’t need him in a game that went to the wire, right until Kriisa canned those two free throws that screamed it’s over.
And, when the clock ticked off that final second after Kerr made his second of the two shots, sealing a 91-85 victory, the joint erupted. Students flowed out of the student section like water from a failed dam, pouring onto the court, getting there where the team was in full celebration mode, hugging each other, reaching for the heavens and jumping up and down.
The love fest of fans enveloped them, but there was no need for security. They encircled the now packed court, “Take Me Home, Country Roads” blaring out of the loudspeakers as a deafening pitch that not a soul was complaining about.
Everyone was singing and bouncing up and down as if they were on a pogo stick or trampoline.
I’d seen such a sight many times before, including the greatest of them all at Notre Dame when the Fighting Irish, a little more than 50 years ago, ended UCLA’s record 88-game win streak on a corner jumper as the clock expired.
You could not top that, but this celebration was a good one. The players were willing to joyously join in with their fans.
“It was like a blessing,” forward Quinn Slazinski said of the moment. “We are going on the road and seeing like 200 (West Virginia) people in the stands against ranked teams. To see how much support we have. We love West Virginia so much. This is for the fans, the ones who scream at the TV when they watch.”
“It’s all love. The love you feel in that moment for your teammates and the fans, just getting there, then fans arrive,” said Pat Suemnick, who scored 20 points in the game.
For a moment, they said, the defeats, the hard days, the cold mornings, the 7 a.m. workouts are all worth it.
And as it transpired, Eilert was off in his own little world. This year has been a tornado for him, spinning out of control. Bob Huggins was fired, he was hired as interim coach, players defected through the portal, putting the team back together, then NCAA and court battles, an injury to Jesse Edwards and bad losses.
All of a sudden, his team had won two or three games against ranked teams, and he’d beaten Hall of Fame coach Bill Self.
What possibly could be spinning through his mind when the fans breached the court?
“I grew up in Kansas,” he began. “I was a Kansas State grad, 95% of people in my family go to Kansas State. So, I've watched Big 8 basketball to Big 12 basketball, and KU has always been a dominant program.
“I always respected them year in and year out. They were winning big, and the first thing that came to mind was my dad,” he continued. “My dad (Jim) was a K-State grad, and he didn't have much of a love affair for Kansas by any means.
“I lost him 6.5 years ago, I started thinking about him to be honest with you, how proud he’d been. I didn't think about what the students were doing, and I have a lot of respect for coach Self, a Hall of Fame coach, their staff, their program and what they've done and been able to accomplish over the years consistently. For me, that was the first thought that went through my head, and it still hasn't probably sunk in yet.”
By now, it probably has sunk in, the magnitude of such an upset, the ability to release such a reaction of joy in a victory-starved fan base.
But as Eilert knows, you are only as good as your next game, and the hill to post-season play is steep.