How Gonzaga schooled West Virginia in final minute of madness

College basketball games often come down to execution in the final minute of play, and that was certainly the case in Thursday's Sweet 16 game between Gonzaga and West Virginia.

With the Mountaineers leading by one point and just over a minute to play, Tarik Phillip stood at the free-throw line with a chance to push the advantage to two.

He missed, and Nigel Williams-Goss grabbed the rebound, but Jevon Carter poked it free, kicking off a wild sequence that saw the ball change possession at least three times. The ball ended up back in Williams-Goss' hands, and he stormed down the court looking for someone in transition. He found graduate transfer Jordan Mathews, who canned a corner triple to put the Bulldogs up two.

Following one made free throw by Gonzaga, West Virginia trailed by three with 25 seconds to play when the Mountaineers turned in one of the ugliest final possessions in recent memory.

Nobody on the West Virginia roster that plays more than 15 minutes makes more than 40 percent of their 3-pointers, so it wasn't exactly an ideal situation for the Mountaineers.

Carter launched one triple that fell short, but it was rebounded and tossed back to the junior guard. A few seconds later, a second triple from the Mountaineers' leading scorer also fell short, but was again rebounded by a teammate who tossed the ball back to Carter.

With just over seven seconds to play, this was the offensive set the Mountaineers ran:

With two seconds to play, Carter's positioning on the court actually got worse, as he was surrounded by two much taller opponents with no teammate to pass to.

Believe it or not, this is where West Virginia had the ball when the buzzer sounded. They didn't even hoist a final shot.

Out of timeouts, the Mountaineers were forced to freelance their way on the final possession and attempt to get a 3-pointer to tie the contest. It went about as horribly as a final possession could have.

In a way, it was a fitting end to arguably the ugliest game of the tournament thus far. West Virginia shot a shockingly low 26 percent from the field for the entire game and made just 21 percent of its threes. The teams combined for more than 50 fouls in a game that took more than two-and-a-half hours to play.

It certainly wasn't pretty, but Gonzaga's execution in the final minute, at both ends of the court, has the Bulldogs back in the Elite Eight for the second time in three years.