MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — No. 18 West Virginia required a last-second miracle at the end of regulation, and then needed another one in overtime to survive TCU on Saturday.
Jevon Carter’s free throws with 0.9 seconds left in the extra period, which followed TCU’s go-ahead jumper with 1.8 seconds, turned a potential Big 12 upset into a breath-stealing 86-85 victory for the Mountaineers.
“I’ve been dreaming of that all my life,” said Carter after taking a victory ride on his teammate’s shoulders. “Every time I shoot my free throws in practice, I feel like these are the last two free throws and I’ve got to make these to win the game.”
BOXSCORE: West Virginia 86, TCU 85
Juwan Staten had 18 points and 12 assists and Devin Williams delivered 18 points and 12 rebounds for West Virginia (16-3, 4-2), which was badly outrebounded and trailed by five with 1:20 left in overtime.
“This game was over so many times, but our kids are resilient,” said West Virginia coach Bob Huggins. “We just wouldn’t let it go.”
TCU’s Trent Johnson had a hard time letting go. Angry over the decisive foul call against guard Kyan Anderson, the coach stalked an official after the game and had to be restrained.
Anderson scored 22 points for TCU (14-5, 1-5), whose lead remained 82-78 on Brandon Parrish’s free throws with 37 second left. But West Virginia’s Daxter Miles, who tied the game at the end of regulation, sandwiched back-to-back 3s around a TCU free throw to put the Mountaineers ahead 84-83 with 7 seconds to go.
After TCU rushed down the floor to retake the lead on Trey Ziegler’s jumper with 1.3 seconds left, Miles responded again. This time with a court-long pass to fellow freshman Carter, who raced behind the TCU defense, took one dribble and was hit atop the head by Anderson while missing a buzzer-beating layup.
“Me and Dax made eye contact and he made the great pass,” Carter said. “Unfortunately, I missed the layup, but I seen the ref had his hand up and was like, ‘Thank the Lord.'”
Johnson said his players “had a delayed reaction” that allowed the Miles-to-Carter connection.
“Usually we have someone back there,” he said. “West Virginia got a guy on the fly, and in a situation like that you need to have someone back there.”
After Carter’s foul shots, TCU launched an off-target 70-foot prayer that was ruled after the horn. It was a crushing near-miss for the Frogs, who six players in double figures yet dropped to 1-22 in Big 12 road/neutral site games since joining the league three years ago.
“This is really hard,” Johnson said. “This is the second time this year we’ve lost an overtime game.”
Ziegler scored 10 points, including a step-back jumper that put TCU up 72-70 with 6.4 seconds left in regulation. Yet West Virginia extended the game when Miles drove the court and rolled in an off-balanced runner with 1.1 seconds left.
After scoring only two points during the game’s first 39 minutes, Miles finished with 10.
“They say great things come late,” joked Miles, calling it the craziest ending he has ever experienced.
Mountaineers forward Jonathan Holton produced 15 points and eight rebounds before fouling out in overtime.
Though Chase Connor’s 3 put West Virginia up 58-50, the Mountaineers were in a 1-of-12 shooting drought, and TCU rallied with 10 unanswered points. That included a fast-break layup by Anderson, who had gone scoreless for 13 minutes after a 16-point first half.
Guard Charles Hill Jr., who didn’t appear in TCU’s previous five games, scored a season-high 13 points, including a 3 to put TCU ahead 68-64 with 2:20 left. (Hill came in averaging only 4.8 minutes and 2.3 points per game.)
Amric Fields and Kenrich Williams scored 11 for the Frogs, while Chris Washburn had 10 points and nine rebounds.
“Every time they made a play, we answered,” said Johnson. “Our kids stayed aggressive.”
Anderson’s explosive first half included a 38-foot heave from near the center-court circle as the shot clock expired. He added a conventional three-point play after being fouled on a layup with 2 seconds left to narrow the halftime deficit to 35-34.
Frog-hopping mad: Johnson declined to address what he yelled at officials after the loss.
“I have no comment on that. We were 28-of-44 from the free-throw line. I’m going to take the high road and my team won’t make excuses.”
The matchup featured the Big 12’s two most foul-prone teams, with West Virginia committing 22.3 per game and TCU whistled for 20.6. They combined for 64 fouls Saturday.
Staten recovers: After shooting 2-of-16 in West Virginia’s previous two games, Staten had his most productive overall performance of the season, though he was 10-of-15 on free throws.
“I thought he was going to come in and play with a lot of confidence, which he did,” Huggins said.
Two regulars benched: Huggins called it a coach’s decision not to play guards Jaysean Paige and Tarik Phillip, who have averaged a combined 27 minutes per game.
“They knew they weren’t going to play,” he said.
As for whether they’ll return to action Tuesday at Kansas State, Huggins said: “That depends on practice tomorrow.”