MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Before the frantic conclusion to West Virginia’s 62-61 take-down of Kansas, freshman Jevon Carter helped the Mountaineers play catch-up with rapid-fire shooting.
He sank two 3-pointers during the space of 28 seconds, erasing a five-point lead the Jayhawks carried into the final 3 minutes.
“He made big shots when the game was getting away from us,” said Bob Huggins. “He’s a special freshman.”
Carter downplayed the late-game drama that surrounded his jumpers.
“I don’t look at it like it’s a lot of pressure if you miss it, or that you might lose if you miss it,” Carter said. “I just look at it like it’s an open shot, just like in shoot-around. It’s a wide-open shot—why not take it, you know? The coaches tell me to shoot it, so why not?”
Yet point guard Juwan Staten, recognizing Carter sometimes carries a heavy conscience, has encouraged the Chicago-area product to shoot more. For example, Monday night’s 3-for-5 3-point shooting concluded with Staten eschewing a driving lane and kicking to Carter in transition. The left-wing jumper put West Virginia ahead 60-59 and upped Carter’s season rate at 31 percent—still a few notches shy of the Big 12 average.
“I want him to stop second-guessing,” Staten said. “He’s made enough shots to where we trust him.”
BillyDee from 3: Considering how every point mattered, BillyDee Williams’ first 3-point basket of the season was not to be overlooked. The junior college transfer had gone 0-for-10 from beyond the arc this season and scored only four points in 10 games.
“I’ve been working on making my step-in shots,” he said. “I definitely was in a drought.”
Holton on the glass: The nine rebounds Jonathan Holton pulled down—his most since claiming 11 in a December loss to LSU—paced the Mountaineers to a 37-32 advantage on the boards. He reasoned that Kansas became slower to loose balls as the WVU’s press took effect.
“I don’t think they were used to that much pressure,” he said.
Stream of consciousness: Days after a tweet from Huggins’ account showed surveillance footage of a mystery man urinating on the coach’s house, the topic became postgame fodder.
Huggins said his wife implored a grad assistant to tweet the pics in hopes they might help identify the unknown vandal. The message read: “Can someone tell me who this man is and why he’s violating my house? #evenwithagatenooneissafe”
But Huggins sounded laid-back about the episode: “How do you get mad at a guy when you’ve done it yourself?”
Bruuuuuuuce: As West Virginia relished the victory over Kansas sophomore Devin Williams found himself surrounded by a crush of students and one NFL standout.
Seattle Seahawks defensive end Bruce Irvin was in the WVU Coliseum to enjoy his alma mater’s upset.
“He was standing right next to me, jumping up and down,” Williams said. “I was like, ‘Yeah!’ And he was like, ‘Yeah!’ It was good to see him down there being a kid with us, especially being as big and scary as he looks.”
