ATLANTA – Of all the West Virginia Mountaineers who wanted another chance at the Sweet 16 of the NCAA Tournament, only Kevin Pittsnogle had a little extra motivation to find the Texas Longhorns waiting for them.
Pittsnogle, the Mountaineers’ 7-foot oak tree with the feathery shooting touch, exploded into America’s consciousness last year during the NCAAs, a splendid mixture of his eclectic game, his mellifluous name and his outgoing personality a natural highlight of the Mountaineers’ feel-good ride to the Elite Eight.
But last Nov. 21, Pittsnogle suffered what has been one of the few speed bumps on an otherwise smooth joyride from obscurity to fame to a likely spot in the first round of the NBA draft in a few months. The Mountaineers were in position to upset Texas, then ranked No. 2 in the country. They led 75-72 with a minute and a half left. The Longhorns had to foul. On a team of terrific shooters, they picked Pittsnogle.
And Pittsnogle twice missed the front ends of 1-and-1s. The Longhorns came back. They won the game 76-75.
And Pittsnogle has spent most of the next four months trying very hard not to think about what had happened.
“I kind of tried to forget about it as much as possible, actually,” Pittsnogle said the other day, as he was asked to look back before looking ahead to last night’s rematch with the Longhorns in the late game of the Atlanta Regional. Duke met LSU in the opener.
“I missed two big free throws and really doubted myself after the game,” he said. “I didn’t want to talk to anybody.”
“I could tell Kevin was obviously upset after the game,” his friend and classmate, Mike Gansey, said. “I know when Kevin is upset, he kind of keeps to himself.”
West Virginia fans have grown to know Pittsnogle as well as any player in recent memory. Part of that, of course, is because he is one of them, having grown up in a mobile home park in Martinsburg, W.Va., And part of that is because of his status as a senior on this team, which has slowly edged forward from humble beginnings as freshman to the brink of the Final Four last year to another crack beginning at the Georgia Dome last night.
“For one thing, he’s one of them,” West Virginia coach John Beilein said of Pittsnogle.
“For another, I think they’ve seen how rapidly he’s grown as a player, and how much hard work it’s taken for him to get there. People appreciate that. And he’s had a terrific career, too. You can’t underestimate how much that’s worth.”
Especially since it wasn’t until late last year that Pittsnogle even became a fulltime starter.
But after seizing his moment in both the Big East and NCAA Tournaments a year ago, Pittsnogle blossomed this year, scoring 19.3 points a game and hitting better than 39 percent of the 218 3-pointers he launched.
“I just want to enjoy what’s left of my career,” Pittsnogle said. “I’m just hoping to enjoy the ride a little longer.”
To the weekend, at least, he hoped. If not longer.