I think there’s a need to be careful when characterizing yesterday’s game. It was a fourth overtime game and it was defined by an opponent getting what it needed to give itself a chance. But this wasn’t Oklahoma or Kansas State or Texas A&M or Kansas. Ninth-ranked West Virginia plays and lives in different canisters, and some fit inside others, sort of like Russian nesting dolls. Disregard the outcome, which is an obvious distinguishing factor. Winning tends to do that. But what happened yesterday doesn’t fit inside what happened Monday.

This was just a close basketball game, and Texas Tech played really, really well for parts of the first 40 minutes. The Mountaineers never led by more than seven points in regulation, and that’s not a very big lead. (Aside: I sometimes feel odd using the “record when leading by 10 or more” stat — now 19-3 — and I used to try to frame it properly. On the surface, it’s impressive because WVU creates so many possessions — good and bad — that a 10-point lead can go away quickly. Winning 30 of those in a row playing this style is a feat. Similarly, the Mountaineers were once in the habit of boat-racing teams and watching the opponent craft and then wave a white flag. That, too, deserves a hand.) It was “just” a six-point lead when Keenan Evans, who’s on a tear the past two weeks, got hot.

Really, the fact it went to overtime was because WVU again struggled to play slow and find shots, which is a legitimate concern, but also because Evans made two tricky jumpers. The first was, dare I say, ill-advised, and the second could not have been guarded better by Jevon Carter.

“I thought I did everything right,” said Carter, a junior who is likely to make the Big 12’s all-defense team for the third straight season. “It was a good shot by him. I thought I defended it well. I guess you just have to live with it.”

WVU, which didn’t have a basket in the final 5:42 of regulation, survived not making a shot in the first overtime. Evans had a chance to win the game, but Texas Tech’s final possession ended with Evans dribbling the clock away, taking a 3 over Carter and missing.

The Mountaineers scored the first six points of the second overtime and made 7 of 9 foul shots after making 6 of 8 in the first overtime.

“This was totally different than the other times,” Phillip said, referring to the many times already this season the Mountaineers haven’t been able to protect a lead. “In the past, it was mental lapses and guys making bad plays and we’d give them buckets. Those guys made shots. They made them over us. They made them through us.”

Still, Beetle Bolden literally fell down on the job, Carter wiggled a few free throws and Bob Huggins refused to foul when up by three, which is his philosophy, and I can’t believe it’s not colored in by his team’s free-throw struggles. Put together, yeah, the Mountaineers again had trouble putting away the other team … but that’s as much a product of their shaky play as it is supremely competitive Big 12 play.

If I am the devil’s advocate then I also can’t be alone here: Texas Tech is good. Very well-coached. Tough. Streaky. That’s either a 10-seed that’s going to scare or snare a 2-seed or that’s the NIT champion. I’m convinced.

And yet, I can’t figure out the Red Raiders. Two elite elite scorers (Evans and Niem Stephenson), one terrific athlete who’s becoming a very good player (Zach Smith), two legitimate 1-on-1 frontcourt threats (Aaron Ross and Anthony Livingston), a rangy creator-rebounder-defender (Justin Gray) and a decent bench (led by Ross) … and they haven’t won one of their seven Big 12 road games and they can’t consistently win close games.

Even with Kansas on top, the Big 12 really is set for a fantastic finish, and we’ll cover that tomorrow. Texas Tech, which has work to do, will have a lot to do with it.

Anyhow, the Mountaineers won and deserved to win as much as they deserved to lose some other times.

I still maintain Tarik Phillip belongs on the floor when the game is on the line. He’s not scared, he can actually get to the rim and he can’t possibly repeat the late errors against Kansas. Carter had two early fouls and then only two in the final 30 minutes. Adrian had a sneaky effective game. But WVU doesn’t win this without Dax Miles and Elijah Macon doing what they did. Needed both, not one or the other. And neither has been known to do what they did Saturday. For Macon, it was a career day.

“He was the difference maker,” said Texas Tech coach Chris Beard said of Macon. “We got pounded on the boards [43-30] and he was the lead person in that effort. He’s another one of Coach Huggins’ guys — just a really hard, aggressive player that fits their mold. We had a lot of respect for him coming into the game and even more now.”

Macon’s secret? Well, do the names Kodo Sawaki and Taisen Deshimaru mean anything to you?

Fine. Try Phil Jackson, aka the Zen Master.

I stay in touch with my family and friends before the game and listen to my Zen music,” said Macon. “I listen to Japanese Zen music or Chinese, anything that takes me away from what I’m going through before the game. I might be overthinking. Gamedays I don’t sleep at all. That’s been me since AAU. I’m thinking about whom I’m going against in a game, which school, who I’m going to stop. So I just listen and let it take me away.”

The Mountaineers are now tied for second place in the Big 12 with Baylor and Iowa State. They all play one another in the next 13 days. WVU has head-to-head wins against both. The Mountaineers and Iowa State have a win against Kansas. Those are factors worth remembering in the tie-breakers, though WVU’s goal is to win out and secure the No. 2 seed, which means a Big 12 tournament quarterfinal against a team that played the day before (as of today, it’s the TCU v. Oklahoma winner) and avoiding Kansas until the championship game.

Stay angry.