MORGANTOWN, W.Va. — Having already faced more counterpunches than an old beat-up boxer looking for one last payday, West Virginia guards Jordan McCabe and Jermaine Haley finally delivered a knockout blow to TCU.
Along the way, the guard combination may have silenced some doubters on what the future of West Virginia’s guards will hold. They combined for 43 points, 17 assists and 13 rebounds during the Mountaineers’ 104-96 triple-overtime victory against the Horned Frogs in front of 8,798 fans inside the WVU Coliseum.
“I think Jordan and I have just shown great chemistry and we can both make plays,” said Haley, who had 18 points, eight rebounds and six assists. “I think we answered a couple of questions, but this is only our third conference win. If we can continue to play this way, we should be able to get a couple of more wins.”
West Virginia (11-17, 3-12 Big 12) ended a five-game losing streak with the win any may have knocked the Horned Frogs (18-10, 6-9) off the bubble for the NCAA tournament along the way.
BOXSCORE: West Virginia 104, TCU 96
There were plenty to credit for the Mountaineers’ win, starting with freshman forward Derek Culver scoring 22 points and adding 21 rebounds — the most by a WVU player since Warren Baker had 22 in 1974 against Pitt.
“He showed what kind of man he’s going to be in the Big 12,” McCabe said. “He’s only going to keep getting better and better.”
Lamont West added 17 points. Chase Harler added 13 points, including a basket on a baseline cut with 41 seconds remaining in the first overtime that sent the game into a second overtime tied at 77.
In the end, though, it belonged to McCabe and Haley. Through their scoring, passing, rebounding and leadership, West Virginia suddenly has a late-season spark.
“We haven’t been pulling our weight,” said McCabe said in explaining the disappointment surrounding play of WVU’s guards this season.
“Jevon Carter and Daxter Miles left some big shoes for us to fill. Looking at them, they’re the size of Ronald McDonald’s shoes.
“People in our program knew we were going to have some learning curves this season. People on the outside can say what they want. We don’t really listen to it.”
McCabe came up with a game to remember: 25 points, 11 assists, six steals and five rebounds in 50 minutes of action.
COLUMN: Allan Taylor’s postgame take
He also had a chance to win the game on two separate occasions. His 3-point attempt at the buzzer of regulation came up short. He had another chance to win it with a three at the end of the first overtime, but it rimmed out.
Instead of a shot, McCabe helped win it with a pass. His 11th assist went right to West, who nailed a 3-pointer with 2:58 left in the the third OT to give the Mountaineers a 93-91 lead.
“I can’t remember what overtime it was, maybe it was the start of the third, but I looked at Lamont and I looked at Chase and I said this is the one we need,” McCabe said. “It wasn’t just like, ‘Oh, we’re in a game and we took them to multiple overtimes and then mope and lose.’ That’s not what we came here to do. I think a lot of things would have been lost if we did lose this game and we had to find a way to pull it out.”
The Mountaineers did just that by finishing with a season-high 23 assists and 52 rebounds and by not coming apart when plays didn’t go their way.
There were a few of those, like missing crucial free throws in the overtime periods or when TCU center Kevin Samuel came up with a blocked shot that forced a WVU shot-clock violation at the end of regulation or when Harler made a bad pass in the final minute of the first overtime that was intercepted by TCU guard RJ Nembhard.
Instead of closing shop, the Mountaineers responded in each case.
“We feel like it’s about time for us to get some good things going,” West said. “Honestly, you’d think the emotions would be up and down in a game like that, but you really have to stay calm and whatever happens will happen. You just have to keep playing through it. You can’t be happy or sad. You just keep playing.”
TCU was led by JD Miller’s 24 points and Kouat Noi added 17 points and 10 rebounds, but the Horned Frogs had two critical turnovers with chances to win it.
At the end of regulation, TCU had the ball with 11 seconds left, but Culver knocked the ball out of Desmond Bane’s hands and it rolled toward the West Virginia basket, where McCabe came up short on a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
“We obviously didn’t execute,” TCU coach Jamie Dixon said. “That might be on me. We ran a little different play than what we’ve practiced. Of course, our personnel was different too, so I thought that was the simplest way to do it.”
In the second overtime, Miller stepped out of bounds on the sideline in front of his own bench with four seconds left.
“I thought we just didn’t make the right read,” Dixon said. “(We) got it where we wanted to.”