WVU Lands on SportsCenter's "Bad Beats" Segment, SVP Calls it a 'Disgusting' Finish

Wednesday's matchup between West Virginia and Cincinnati felt like an NCAA Tournament game, and in some ways, it was an elimination game of sorts. The Bearcats can still fight their way in, but they have a lot of work to do with few opportunities to pick up Quad 1 wins.

In the final minutes of last night's game, the Mountaineers created some separation and found themselves up nine points with roughly 15 seconds left and shooting free throws. Instead of putting the final nail in the coffin, WVU opened the door for a wild finish.

West Virginia was a 3.5-point favorite on FanDuel Sportsbook and ended up not covering, causing the game to land on SportsCenter's Bad Beats segment.

Scott Van Pelt did an "emergency bad beat" for the end of Cincinnati and West Virginia.#Bearcats pic.twitter.com/j8YPieYFOX
— Chatterbox Sports (@CBoxSports) February 20, 2025

Freshman Jonathan Powell missed the front end of a one-and-one, the Bearcats snatched the rebound, got up the floor, and Dan Skillings Jr. hoisted up a low percentage three that banked in to cut the lead to six.

On the ensuing inbound, Amani Hansberry put too much air on the pass to Sencire Harris, leading to a steal and another off-balanced made three by Skillings, making it a three-point deficit. WVU then had to burn its final two timeouts just to get the ball inbounded, and even then, trouble occurred. Joe Yesufu tried to get it to Harris again, but the ball went off his hand, giving it right back to Cincinnati for a chance to tie.

Tyler Betsy got a wide-open look at the top of the key but didn't get enough on it hitting the front of the rim, giving WVU the win and head coach Darian DeVries a huge sigh of relief.

"The ball was in the air and I was like, ‘that’s going in.’ It really felt like we put the game away, but like we told them in the locker room, that’s why you never take for granted until that clock hits zero because there’s so many things that can happen. That was one of the wilder sequences I’ve ever been a part of. I’m just thankful that ball didn’t go in."

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