No. 23 West Virginia is Seeking First Win at Kansas State Since '21

Manhattan, KS - No. 23 West Virginia is back on the road to take on Kansas State Saturday evening.

The Mountaineers (13-5, 4-3) fell to Arizona State on Tuesday night in a stunning 65-57 loss after defeating No. 2 Iowa State days earlier. West Virginia’s shooting was as frigid as the temperature outside, going 18-58 from the field, while the defense allowed the Sun Devils to shoot 61.5% from the floor.

“Our defensive rebounding wasn’t good enough in that game and then just our defense in general in the second half,” WVU head coach Darian DeVries said. “I mean, they shot 66% - you’re not winning games allowing that type of efficiency by an opponent. We’ve been doing a pretty good job in those areas, but we didn’t [against Arizona State] – in that second half especially.”

Javon Small has led the Mountaineers in scoring seven of the last nine contests. The senior is averaging 19.1 points per game in Big 12 Conference play. He is coming off one his worst shooting performances of the season and its more to do with the attention he receives from opponents, drawing double teams in every game.

KJ Tenner has returned to the lineup after missing two games with an injury. The freshman guard is key to providing Small a breather and giving him opportunities off the ball to create space and get to the rim.

“We’re not going to do a heavy dose of Javon off the ball but when’s KJ’s in and Javon’s in – some of KJ’s minutes are to rest Javon, to get off the floor, and the other half is to get him off the ball,” DeVries said. “So, we can get him on the move a little bit more in space where the defenses are quite as loaded up against him when he has the ball in his hands.”

The Wildcats (7-11, 1-6) have lost nine of their last 10 games and are currently enduring a six-game losing streak.

“When you look at them, especially in Big 12 play, outside of the Houston game, their games have come right down to the wire - they’ve been right there,” DeVries said. “[They] led at Kansas, had Texas Tech at home, had Baylor down double digits on the road, beat Cincinnati at home. So, they’re right there, they just haven’t had the wins to show for it, but I think they’re a really talented team and they present a lot of problems for you.”

Junior forward David N’Guessan is averaging a team-best 12.6 ppg, behind a team-high 39.9% from three but leading the charge in league action is forward Coleman Hawkins at 13.0 ppg. The senior also leads the team in rebounding (7.0) and assists (4.4) during the season.

I think what makes him good is his versatility because he can shoot it – he can shoot it from deep, and then his ability to go post,” DeVries said. “They use him more as a four but still put you in some tough spots and if you’re going to switch it, he’s going to take you down to the post with a little guard and now you got to some bring some help most of the time and he’s such a willing passer that now it makes those guys on the backside really efficient from a catch and shoot standpoint.”

West Virginia leads the series 16-12 and is 4-8 at Bramlage Coliseum, including dropping the last three games in Manhattan.

The Mountaineers and the Wildcats tip-off at 6:00 p.m. EST and the action will broadcast on CBSSN.

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