For much of Thursday's Capital Classic involving Marshall and West Virginia, the star was Thundering Herd coach Dan D'Antoni's shirt.
He wore a pinstripe suit with a black - and somewhat wrinkled - T-shirt underneath. It had the outline of the state of West Virginia with the word Marshall overtop. You couldn't help but notice.
Then it got pressed.
Not the T-shirt. D'Antoni's team.
After one half, MU had but eight turnovers against "Press Virginia." In the end, it had 19. The No. 20 Mountaineers moved to 9-1 with an 86-68 victory.
It was a typical Classic. Fouls o'plenty. On this night, 56. WVU shot 46.2 percent. Marshall shot 34. Ugly, ugly, ugly. At the end, many were looking for the musket to put the game out of its misery.
But within the misery, one could find the agony of defeat.
Or, rather, the agony of de-feet. And ankle.
You could find Jon Elmore. Charleston's Jon Elmore. He was playing in his first Classic as a member of Marshall's Thundering Herd.
Folks in the Kanawha Valley know his story. Elmore's father Gay was a South Charleston standout who went to VMI and etched his name all over the record books. Elmore's brother Ot, a South Charleston High product, also went to VMI before leaving and moving to the University of Texas Rio Grande Valley. He is just now resuming his career with the Vaqueros.
And then there is Jon Elmore. He went to South Charleston and, eventually, George Washington High before hitting VMI, too. Like his brother, Jon transferred out because of a family situation.
Now, though, he's eligible to play for MU. And D'Antoni understands what he has. In just Elmore's second game of eligibility, there he was starting against WVU and going against the Mountaineers' Jevon Carter.
In a moment many won't forget, Elmore found another West Virginia native, Logan's Stevie Browning, for an alley-oop dunk over Carter, the Mountaineers' game MVP.
It was a stunning moment. The now 3-7 Herd was within a point near the end of the first half.
Elmore was on the court more than varnish Thursday night. He was attempting to draw fouls. He was hitting the paint.
His game faded late and he finished with 14 points, mostly via free throws, but on 1-of-9 shooting. He had three rebounds, two assists and four turnovers.
Yet there was something compelling about the kid. You could tell he cared. You could tell he wouldn't give up. And you could tell he was playing through pain.
But, oh yeah, he was playing in this one. The Capital Classic meant something special.
"It was amazing," Elmore said. "I wish the results would have been a little different. But growing up as a kid in Charleston, I always dreamed of playing in this game. Kids from here worshipped this game. Everybody comes and says, 'Man, I want to be on Marshall's team' or 'I want to be on West Virginia's team.'
"You want it to sell out. I have nothing for love for this game. It was amazing. Like I said, I wish we could have come out with a 'W.' But it was a dream come true playing in this game."
Elmore cramped once. He limped badly at game's end.
"I sprained my ankle pretty badly 12 days ago," said the guard. "I gave it a go on the first game I was eligible, Monday. That went all right. I'd say it's still in the healing process. I tried to tough it out, but I admit it still bothered me a little bit.
"There was no excuse."
The Mountaineers were simply deeper and quicker.
"They don't let up," Elmore said. "That press is something else. They're 'Press Virginia' for a reason. In the first half we took care of the ball and handled it the way we needed. We were down three and the game could've gone either way ... In the second half, we let it get to us a little bit. We still did a solid job, but those few turnovers ... And we stopped knocking down shots. We couldn't throw it in the ocean. That had a lot to do with our energy dying and them getting their momentum and taking over the game."
Elmore was refreshing. His team was pressed, but he didn't get steamed. And if you think the kid is giving up now, you don't know the family.
"I think we as a team have to get better," Elmore said. "I think we will. We're going to get to this [WVU] level and, hopefully, we'll see them again and be able to compete."
The state shall certainly be watching.