One thing we have to remember about Sagaba Konate is that this is all new to him. Yeah, he’s a freshman and this is his first March, but what is Madness in Mali? He’s been in the United States for three years now.

“I think the difference is Coach Huggs always tells us to play hard. This is the tournament. It’s one and done,” Konate said after his first postseason game. “We’ve got get a good seed for the NCAA tournament.”

He has a basic understanding, and just as sure, his debut was promising for the Mountaineers. It was assertive, controlled and a bit vengeful. The last time Konate saw Texas, he was involved in the “dunk of the year.”

He didn’t care, but he didn’t forget.

“I said after last time at home, ‘Next time, I’ve got to catch him,'” Konate said.

Konate said he had a little extra Thursday night, a night he played very well for the Mountaineers as they did a purposefully effective job throwing bodies at and on Texas’ best player.

“Sags gave us another big body against that freak inside, Jarrett Allen,” guard Tarik Phillip said. “We had to bang him around a little bit and make his shots tough shots.”

The 6-foot-10 Allen had two dunks and 10 rebounds, but the freshman shot 4-for-10 and finished with nine points and a wagging tongue. Konate scored six points on 3-for-4 shooting and added four rebounds and two steals. He dunked twice and blocked two shots, including a rude rejection of a dunk attempt.

That was Kendal Yancy and not Allen. Konate never really crossed paths with Allen, which was a bummer for observers and probably even Konate. He went to school on that first dunk and wouldn’t have minded applying his lessons to a second test.

“When No. 31 dunked on me, that made me stronger mentally,” he said. “I figured out my timing was not right. He dunked on me because I was late. I’m trying to figure out the timing to meet him at the right spot and be better.”

Mostly, though, Konate shrugged off the entire experience. He didn’t like that it happened but only because he didn’t block the shot. That happens, he said, and being on the receiving end in a loop of replays is part of it.

“It doesn’t bother me at all,” he said. “As a shot blocker, you know everything can happen. I don’t give up. I’ve got to keep doing it, keep blocking shots, even if they dunk on me.”