Adam Zagoria covers basketball at all levels. He is the author of two books and an award-winning journalist whose articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Sports Illustrated, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide.
Maybe West Virginia was distracted by the lawsuits.
Or maybe Division 2 Northern Kentucky is just that good.
Whatever the case, Eshaunte Jones hit a 25-footer with 1.1 seconds remaining to give Northern Kentucky a stunning 77-74 victory over West Virginia on Friday night in Morgantown, West Va.
West Virginia had tied the game at 74-all on a 3-pointer by Darryl “Truck” Bryant with less than 6.3 seconds left. Jones then dribbled the ball up the floor and drained a long 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left, giving NKU the upset in the exhibition game.
“It’s a good win for the kids,” Northern Kentucky coach Dave Bezold told SNY.tv by phone. “To be able to go into a storied program like West Virginia and get a win, that could be the highlight of their careers at any level.”
He added: “Coach [Bob] Huggins has always been very kind about our program. when he was at the University of Cincinnati and now here at West Virginia. And he did it as a special favor. We’ve got two guys on our coaching staff. One played for him named Darris Nichols and one was here [at West Virginia] as an assistant coach named Kevin Schappell, so he did a heck of a favor to let us come down and put those kids back home.”
Tony Rack led NKU with 21 points, and Jones added 15 points. The Norse were 0-18 all-time in exhibition games against Division I teams going into Friday night.
The Mountaineers were led by Bryant’s 24 points, Kevin Jones’ 22 and Gary Browne’s 11. Jabarie Hinds added 10.
The Charleston Daily Mail reported that West Virginia’s last regular-season loss to a non-Division I team came in January 1955 when the Mountaineers lost consecutive home games against Carnegie Tech and Westminster. That team was led by sophomore Rod Hundley and first-year coach Fred Schaus, but landed in the NCAA Tournament with a 19-11 record and Southern Conference Tournament championship.
West Virginia is both suing the Big East and being sued by the conference over its attempt to withdraw immediately to join the Big 12, although there’s no telling how that impacts the players.
Like West Virginia, Northern Kentucky is uncertain which conference it will be in next year, although the Summit League, the Atlantic Sun and the OVC are all options once it makes the jump.
“We will be Division 1 next year,” Bezold said. “There’s a couple conferences very interested, and there’s one more that is making a decision whether or not they’ll give us an invitation and our administration feels like within a month or so they’ll have a really good idea of which conference we’re going to be in.
“But we’ll definitely be a Division 1 program next season.”
(Photo courtesy NKU Athletics)
Adam Zagoria is a Basketball Insider who covers basketball at all levels. A contributor to The New York Times and SportsNet New York (SNY), he is also the author of two books and is an award-winning journalist and filmmaker. His articles have appeared in ESPN The Magazine, SLAM, Sheridan Hoops, Basketball Times and in newspapers nationwide. He also won an Emmy award for his work on the SNY mini-documentary on Syracuse guard Tyus Battle.
A veteran Ultimate Frisbee player, he has competed in numerous National and World Championships and, perhaps more importantly, his teams won the Westchester Summer League (WSL) championships in 2011 and 2013.
He lives in Manhattan with his wife and children.
Maybe West Virginia was distracted by the lawsuits.
Or maybe Division 2 Northern Kentucky is just that good.
Whatever the case, Eshaunte Jones hit a 25-footer with 1.1 seconds remaining to give Northern Kentucky a stunning 77-74 victory over West Virginia on Friday night in Morgantown, West Va.
West Virginia had tied the game at 74-all on a 3-pointer by Darryl “Truck” Bryant with less than 6.3 seconds left. Jones then dribbled the ball up the floor and drained a long 3-pointer with 1.1 seconds left, giving NKU the upset in the exhibition game.
“It’s a good win for the kids,” Northern Kentucky coach Dave Bezold told SNY.tv by phone. “To be able to go into a storied program like West Virginia and get a win, that could be the highlight of their careers at any level.”
He added: “Coach [Bob] Huggins has always been very kind about our program. when he was at the University of Cincinnati and now here at West Virginia. And he did it as a special favor. We’ve got two guys on our coaching staff. One played for him named Darris Nichols and one was here [at West Virginia] as an assistant coach named Kevin Schappell, so he did a heck of a favor to let us come down and put those kids back home.”
Tony Rack led NKU with 21 points, and Jones added 15 points. The Norse were 0-18 all-time in exhibition games against Division I teams going into Friday night.
The Mountaineers were led by Bryant’s 24 points, Kevin Jones’ 22 and Gary Browne’s 11. Jabarie Hinds added 10.
The Charleston Daily Mail reported that West Virginia’s last regular-season loss to a non-Division I team came in January 1955 when the Mountaineers lost consecutive home games against Carnegie Tech and Westminster. That team was led by sophomore Rod Hundley and first-year coach Fred Schaus, but landed in the NCAA Tournament with a 19-11 record and Southern Conference Tournament championship.
West Virginia is both suing the Big East and being sued by the conference over its attempt to withdraw immediately to join the Big 12, although there’s no telling how that impacts the players.
Like West Virginia, Northern Kentucky is uncertain which conference it will be in next year, although the Summit League, the Atlantic Sun and the OVC are all options once it makes the jump.
“We will be Division 1 next year,” Bezold said. “There’s a couple conferences very interested, and there’s one more that is making a decision whether or not they’ll give us an invitation and our administration feels like within a month or so they’ll have a really good idea of which conference we’re going to be in.
“But we’ll definitely be a Division 1 program next season.”
(Photo courtesy NKU Athletics)
