Key Highlights
- — Much to the chagrin of the 13,000 or so West Virginia basketball fans who were eager to start their postgame celebration and sing John Denver’s “Take Me Home, Country Roads” as their 79-71 win over No.
- 19 BYU wound down on Saturday, Cougars coach Kevin Young called a timeout with five seconds remaining to set up one final play. Any hope of winning at 14,000-seat Hope Coliseum — sponsored by a natural gas and energy company — had already been lost for the backsliding Cougars, but Young wanted to send a message to his team and perhaps prepare for future situations when a last-second shot might be required to get a win. AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAlas, freshman guard Aleksej Kostic missed a 3-pointer and WVU’s partying began as if the Mountaineers (8-8, 17-12) had just knocked off an outstanding team.
- Several West Virginia news outlets called it an “upset” and a “signature win” for first-year coach Ross Hodge. Where have they been?Suffice it to say, slumping BYU (8-8, 20-9) is no longer an outstanding team, despite its No.
- 19 national ranking — that’s sure to evaporate when Monday’s newest rankings are released after back-to-back losses to unranked teams — and six Quad 1 victories. BYU dropped to No.
- 23 in the NET rankings and Kenpom. com, and is still viewed as a probable No.
