West Virginia’s chaotic final possession was March Madness at its worst

The West Virginia Mountaineers had the Gonzaga Bulldogs on the ropes. The Mountaineers patented full-court trap defense rattled the Gonzaga guards. West Virginia was owning the glass. When Jevon Carter hit back-to-back three-pointers to put WVU ahead 58-55 with under two minutes left, the ‘Zags appeared to be on life support.

Gonzaga would wrestle back the lead with under a minute left on a crazy sequence that ended with a Jordan Mathews three-pointer. The Mountaineers still had one chance left, their ball, down three, 38 seconds on the clock. The game would be decided on this final possession.

Unfortunately for the Mountaineers, the final possession was a disaster. It was a clinic on exactly what not to do in late-game situations. Even with the help of two offensive rebounds, West Virginia couldn’t get a single decent shot with nearly 40 seconds on the clock.

There’s a lot to unpack here, so let’s take this one by one:

If the Mountaineers went quickly, they would’ve had enough time for a two-for-one. Instead, the WVU guards cradled the ball and didn’t even think about attacking until 12 seconds had ticked off the shot clock.

Carter began his first serious probe with 25 seconds remaining. He took the ball to the right wing, charged at Gonzaga’s Nigel Williams-Goss and fired a step-back three-pointer with a hand in his face.

Air ball.

Fortunately, the ball landed in the hands of teammate Daxter Miles Jr. Could Miles have tried to go up with the rebound right away? It would have been a tough shot, but there was still enough time for WVU to get two points and start sending Gonzaga to the line.

Instead, he kicked out immediately. His intent was to pass the ball as soon as he caught it:

The ball went back to Carter, who again tried to play the hero. It didn’t work out any better the second time.

Carter faked left, went right, then took a hard dribble back and to his left again. He hoisted a deep three-pointer with 16 seconds left. This was the toughest shot of the entire sequence, and there was absolutely no need to force it in this situation:

The ball barely grazed the rim, but West Virginia came down with it again. This time Nathan Adrian grabbed the rebound out past the three-point arc. Again, the ball went to Carter, this time with 12 seconds on the clock.

Carter took a few steps back toward halfcourt and reset the offense. Adrian came to set a screen to his right, and Lamont West had another screen right behind him.

Carter tried to use the screens, but he was bottled up by the Gonzaga defense. Perhaps he could have made the pass to Adrian — a capable three-point shooter — for a last second look at a three. Instead, he held the ball himself:

The possession looked dead at this point, but Carter had to do something. He did a quick half-spin and a quick crossover to give himself some breathing room. He didn’t take a shot though.

Instead, as the Gonzaga defense collapsed on him, Carter passed to Miles with a second left. There was nothing he could do at that point:

Miles took a shot that was nowhere close. It might not have counted even if it went in.

Game over. The ‘Zags keep dancing.

Williams-Goss might have played his worst performance of the season. The ‘Zags struggled to hit free throws down the stretch. All WVU had to do was act with urgency and get a good look at the basket when it got the ball with 38 seconds left. The defense could have taken it from there.

Instead, Carter tried to play hero ball and failed spectacularly. This is what he said after the game:

Maybe he should have thought of that the first time.

It’s worth noting that Carter was spectacular in this NCAA tournament. He finished with 21 points and seven rebounds on Thursday. There was no way West Virginia would have had to a chance to win this game without him. For most of the night, he looked like the only Mountaineers player who could score.

Carter also had 24 points on 15 shots against Notre Dame in WVU’s Round of 32 win. West Virginia isn’t here without him.

The clock management late in the game simply left a lot to be desired, though. It’s amazing that West Virginia coulda/shoulda won a game when it shot 26.7 percent from the field and 21.7 percent from three. The game was still right there for the taking at the end.

The lesson: Hero ball is rarely the answer. We’ve seen lots of bad possessions in the final seconds of close games during this NCAA tournament, but West Virginia just left us with the most memorable disaster.