Fans show gratitude, pride in the face of WVU’s loss to Kentucky
It wasn't the result that the nearly 13,000 fans at Hope Coliseum wanted, but it's an evening they'll never forget.
Related video: Kentucky players recap win over West Virginia in NCAA Tournament MORGANTOWN, W. Va. (WBOY) — It wasn’t the result that the nearly 13,000 fans at Hope Coliseum wanted, but it’s an evening they’ll never forget.
“It’s so cool because, I mean, growing up, you watch March Madness,” Charlie Hullderman, a West Virginia University student from Fairmont, said. “You see all the big-time plays. You see all of it…and then coming to West Virginia, to Morgantown, it’s just an unbelievable experience, in my opinion.
” There was certainly disappointment in the building as WVU is still searching for its first NCAA Sweet 16 appearance in 34 years. “It really sucked,” Hunter Smith, a WVU fan from Hagerstown, Maryland, said. “If we could have got, you know, the same team that showed up Saturday, I think we smoked them.
Twice on Sundays and four times on a Monday. So, you know, it was just tough. ” The Mountaineers couldn’t close out a comeback in the 74-73 loss to Kentucky in the second round, but the magical season that still ended with a Big 12 Tournament championship in the trophy case wasn’t lost on the fans who came.