MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — After challenging his team to be tougher, Oklahoma State coach Travis Ford was satisfied with the Cowboys’ clutch play during the second half of Saturday’s 73-72 win at West Virginia.
And of course no possession was more pressurized than the one setting up Markel Brown’s go-ahead 3-pointer with 11.6 seconds left.
“We would have taken anything,” Ford said. “A play was drawn up to try to get the ball into the paint. There was a couple different options off of the play. We were going to take whatever shot the defense gave us.
“I was not concerned whether or not we scored two or three points—it was about scoring something. Obviously that was a shot Markel Brown could make. Ironically he had a wide-open shot about 30 seconds before the game-winner I thought he should have taken. I told him at the break he better not pass up another good look like the one he just had. It just so happened he got another look.”
Forgive Brown for being hesitant—after all he had made only 2 of his last 23 shots from 3-point range. But this time the senior was money and looked plenty confident in sinking the shot that sank WVU’s upset bid.
“They’re going to beat a lot of teams in this league,” Brown said of West Virginia. “They played their butts off.”