Mountaineers Sit And Wait After “One Posession” Loss vs. Kansas State
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MORGANTOWN - In basketball, they talk about one possession games, like that is really what they are.
They aren't, though, you know.
But the coaches, the players, the announcers, the fans, the sportswriters … they all talk about one possession games like Saturday's midnight special that WVU lost by three points to No. 16 Kansas State to be eliminated from the Big 12 tournament.
In the end, it came down to one desperation 3-point shot that nearly went down for JJ Quinerly at the buzzer.
One possession and it could have been tied, could have gone to overtime.
But is a game that ends within one possession really a one-possession game? What of those defensive breakdowns in the second quarter, what of the bad passes, the walking calls, the shot clock violations that go on all game long.
Are they not part of the equation, maybe even the whole equation?
One possession? Why was it that Quinerly was chosen to take that shot? What of all those possessions that produced 27 points on the evening for her? What of the job Kylee Blacksten did on Ayoka Lee in down low in the second half?
See, even WVU coach Mark Kellogg used the term "one possession game", but he knows he misspoke, even corrected himself almost immediately.
See, the drama of a game being settled at the end, especially magnified in the postseason, makes it seem like the term fits, but no game has a one-size-fits-all answer like that. There are always so many moments in a close game that can qualify as the one possession that matters that they can't be singled out.
"I think we lost our way a little bit on some of those possessions, and they just made the run and we just didn't respond quick enough to some of those runs." he said. "That's what I was a little disappointed in. We needed to stop it, squash it a little quicker. Instead of it being a 4-0 or 5-0 it turned into 7, and in a game like this 7-0 seems significant."
If WVU had won the game by one point, would that be a one-possession game and, if so, why would it not be the first possession of the entire game when Quinerly stole the ball and broke free for an uncontested layup for a 2-0 lead with only six seconds off the clock.
But, as the announcers have come to say so often that it has become a cliche, basketball is a game of runs and this was no different. WVU went up 12 points in the first half but went to the locker room up only 3.
K-State went up 10 in the second half but went into the final seconds protecting a 3-point lead for that one possession.
"We got the lead, right, I think once early in the fourth, but then gave it back. So, I felt like every time we had a look, maybe scored, they went and scored right behind it, and kept us at bay or we couldn't get the lead back. We got the lead in the fourth, and we wanted to get it again to see if we could separate, and we just couldn't answer," Kellogg said.
"I thought there was a couple of times that I was looking at our team and waiting for them to respond, which they have done all year and they did again tonight in a great way and gave ourselves an opportunity late. But just didn't quite have enough. Credit to Kansas State."
In some ways it was a similar exit from the Big 12 Tournament to last year's when Terryn Milton banked in a shot that gave Oklahoma State a 62-61 victory over WVU.
That was two years in a row that Quinerly's heart had been broken and she was asked which hurt more.
"I think last year was more heartbreaking just because of the way it happened, a buzzer beater loss," she said. "But this year we thought we stayed together the whole game. I love this group of girls and I'm going to fight for them to the end of the game. We did that, came up a little short, but that's the way it is."
But while each game ended on one shot - one that went in and one that didn't - neither was a one-possession game.
WVU now relaxes and gets it back together and then will head off for the NCAA Tournament.
"I'm proud of our group, disappointed obviously in the result, but really proud of what we have in the locker room. I've had a blast coaching them all year. I don't think we're done. I think we still have some basketball in front of us so I will be excited to watch and prepare for that."