KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Minutes after Devin Williams fouled out for the fifth time this season, he didn’t blame questionable calls for No. 18 West Virginia being bounced from the Big 12 quarterfinals.
“There were some good refs out there, but you know, there were some iffy calls,” Williams said. “But they did they best they can. There was a lot of pressure from the crowd and the coaches. They were just calling what they could. We couldn’t ask for no more.”
Despite Williams scoring 18 points on 7-of-9 shooting and grabbing seven rebounds, the Mountaineers lost 80-70 and suffered their third loss of the season to No. 16 Baylor.
“We can’t get no closer than the game we had today,” said Williams, who fouled out with 2:22 remaining, right in the middle of Baylor’s game-ending 21-8 run. “We just couldn’t capitalize at the end.”
Williams was dynamic on the offenseive end, sinking two 18-foot jumpers early and twice putting WVU ahead with second-half stick-backs.
Though he might have gotten away with a flop on a charge by Rico Gathers, Williams also suffered two fouls that caught him by surprise. The most egregious was a light-contact rebounding foul when he had inside position against Baylor’s Ish Wainright.
Williams bounced in disbelief for a couple seconds, drawing a long stare from official Mark Whitehead.
Another of Williams’ fouls occurred when he and Gathers tangled arms as Taurean Prince sank a 3-pointer from the left wing.
“It was physical, just like I predicted it would be,” Williams said.
After Gathers overcame a slow start to finish with 15 points and nine boards, the All-Big 12 forward acknowledged the vigorous battle with Williams.
“He did a good job. He was hitting jumpers and stuff and being an interior man for his team.”