BIRMINGHAM, Ala. — It is an accomplishment in of itself to make it to the NCAA Tournament, something that didn’t seem so sure when Big 12 Conference play began for West Virginia earlier this season. Although their time in the “Big Dance” was short-lived, the focus now shifts to the offseason question marks.
West Virginia fell to Maryland Thursday 67-65 in the opening round of the NCAA tournament, ending their 2022-23 season 19-15.
A fast non-conference start showed a lot of promise to the season for the Mountaineers. That was followed by a quick 180 once Big 12 Conference play began. WVU won 10 of their first 12 non-conference games, but then suffered five straight conference losses.
The Mountaineers finished eighth in the Big 12 (7-11), but still had a resume good enough for an invitation to the tournament.
Filled with a lot of emotion was a locker room of WVU players, some appearing in their first ever March Madness tournament, but all overcome with a disappointment in the outcome of the game and the fact that their season, and, for some, their college careers, were over.
Fifth-year senior Erik Stevenson tried holding back tears in the press conference following the game.
“It’s over…It’s over. I don’t what else to say man,” said Stevenson following the game. “It’s a different feeling.”
West Virginia was the fourth team Stevenson played for in his college career.
“I don’t know what’s next,” Stevenson said. “I’m just happy I got to finish it out here in West Virginia. “I can’t thank this program enough. I can’t thank Coach Huggins enough.”
The leading scorer for the Mountaineers this season was held in check to nine points in the game on 4-of-17 shooting from the floor.
For other fifth-year guys including Kedrian Johnson, it didn’t take long for those emotions to hit right after walking off the floor for the final time.
“At the end of the day, somebody’s got to win and somebody’s got to lose,” Johnson said. “It’s in the past now.”
An injury forced Emmitt Matthews Jr. to the bench for a significant amount of time in the second half. He had just two points and only shot the ball three times. He said his college career has brought him many different emotions and experiences, but he is grateful to finish with WVU.
“Being able to finish out the tournament with a group of guys that I love and a coaching staff that I love, I can’t really ask for much else,” said Matthews Jr.
Notable guys with another year of eligibility are fellow starters Tre Mitchell, Jimmy Bell Jr., and sixth man Joe Touissaint.
Toussaint said it’s too early to tell what he’ll be doing next year and if he’ll suit up again for WVU.
“I still got to think about that,” he said. “I enjoy it here and glad that I’m here.”
Mitchell and Bell Jr. haven’t announced their intentions for next year either.
Touissaint has experienced NCAA Tournament games before, spending a few seasons with the Iowa Hawkeyes. He’s one of a group of guys who transferred in last offseason from ‘Power 5’ programs, something that head coach Bob Huggins had to get accustomed to in order to build a team of good chemistry come tournament time.
Huggins was asked Thursday what his future looked like after their first-round loss to Maryland in the NCAA Tournament.
Huggins first wasn’t concerned with anything else other than getting his club into the tournament this year in the first place.
“The only thing I’ve thought about in the last month and a half was getting these guys to a point where they could come here,” Huggins said.
Huggins was asked after the game if he knew what his future looked like in Morgantown.
“I got people who think I should stay on for quite a while, and there’s people probably thinking I ought to pack it in.”
The Hall Of Fame coach didn’t look too far ahead into the upcoming offseason, but did mention there’ll be discussions soon on the state of the team next season.
“I think we let them kind of diffuse for a while and then we’ll sit down with everybody. We’ll sit down and talk about what we did right and what we did wrong and who is staying and who is going,” said Huggins.