MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Two seasons ago, facing the same basket and a last-second deficit, Josh Gray settled for a 24-foot jumper and left the WVU Coliseum a loser.
This time Gray went to the rim and went home a winner.
LSU’s transfer point guard came off a ball-screen unguarded and drove for the go-ahead layup with 7.4 seconds left, culminating a stunning comeback over No. 16 West Virginia, 74-73.
“The lane opened up and I had a wide-open layup,” said Gray, who overcame eight turnovers to redeem himself from the February 2013 misfire when he was a freshman at Texas Tech.
BOXSCORE: LSU 74, West Virginia 73
The layup was the costliest in a series of defensive lapses for West Virginia (7-1), which led by 14 points early in the second half and seemed on the verge of routing LSU (6-2). The margin remained 68-62 with 3:41 left before LSU hit 5-of-6 shots to close the game, including 3-pointers by Tim Quarterman and Keith Hornsby.
Juwan Staten, who led WVU with 17 points but missed 13-of-19 shots, rushed downcourt in the final seconds and missed a contested 17-footer. A lunging tip by Tarik Phillip—the defender who misplayed Gray’s drive—was no good at the buzzer.
“We were out of timeouts … and the initial thing was to get it to the rim,” Staten said. “But there were four purple jerseys down there, so I just had to get a shot up.”
What happened defensively at the finish? Phillip was supposed to stay on Gray’s right hand when LSU forward Jordan Mickey set a top-of-the key screen. Instead, the West Virginia guard jumped left and into teammate Devin Williams, creating an easy right-handed driving lane for Gray.
“It’s something we guard every single day,” said Mountaineers coach Bob Huggins. “The guard has always taken right and the big takes left. But the guard jumped to the left. Even with that, I don’t know how you go shoot a layup from the top of the key and nobody helps.”
Staten made a swipe toward Gray but said he “was trying not to help too much,” because he was assigned to Hornsby, the shooter in the corner who had made 3-of-3 from 3-point range.
Huggins removed the 6-8 Jonathan Holton with 16 seconds left, using a four-guard lineup to defend the final possession after LSU went small.
As LSU coach Johnny Jones pointed out: “There wasn’t a rim protector in there so it made it easier for us to get in there and get a layup.”
Where was the turning point? Leading 52-38 with 18:07, West Virginia had reeled off nine unanswered, the Coliseum was at full-throat, and LSU was frazzled. Instead of putting the game away, the Mountaineers missed 11 of their next 12 shots and LSU recovered with an 18-4 run spanning nine minutes.
“It just seems like we got a little lax and they kept playing hard,” Staten said. “We didn’t guard the way we should have in the second half.”
Who saw Quarterman coming? LSU’s 6-foot-6 sophomore guard pumped in a career-high 21 points off the bench, doubling his season average. On his biggest basket—a 3-pointer that drew LSU to within 68-65—Quarterman was open because Phillip temporarily celebrated after a putback dunk on the opposite end.
LSU forward Jarell Martin committed seven turnovers and fouled out, but otherwise produced a man’s game with 18 points and 14 rebounds. His output was crucial in light of Mickey scoring a season-low four points after foul trouble limited him to 2 minutes in the first half.
Can WVU finish on the interior? West Virginia’s four post players combined on 9-of-26 shooting, with 11 misses coming within 3 feet.
“How many layups did we miss?” Huggins said. “Our post guys have got to get better. When you throw it that close, you’ve got to come up with something.”
What does this mean for WVU? So much for the chatter about a 13-0 start heading into Big 12 play. With UConn previously dispatched and N.C. State on the horizon, this represented one of three quality opponents on West Virginia’s nonconference slate. (Let’s withhold judgment on Boston College for now.)
That ravenous press that masked flaws in previous games? It was still plenty ravenous, as WVU made 19 steals and forced 24 turnovers—totals that typically equate to a victory. Yet lapses in judgment down the stretch brought back to earth the expectations that suddenly were being heaped on a still-young team.
In the disappointing aftermath, Devin Williams tried to rationalize that a loss “was going to happen eventually.” That it happened at home, in a game WVU thought it had controlled, means eventually arrived sooner than expected.