West Virginia Fights off Comeback to Knock off Kansas
The No. 17 West Virginia Mountaineers forced the No. 23 Kansas Jayhawks into 18 turnovers and shot 52.4% from three-point range to pull off the 91-79 win Saturday afternoon.
West Virginia forward Derek Culver opened the game, hitting the Mountaineers' first three buckets, followed by Miles “Deuce” McBride and Jalen Bridges burying a pair of threes to jump out to a 12-2 lead.
Culver had another unstoppable first half performance. He worked the entire paint for 13 points and six rebounds, highlighted by a drive down the right side. As he was forced to the baseline, he contorted his body towards the basket, reached out, and scooped it in with his left hand to put the Mountaineers up, 25-18.
Guard Taz Sherman heated up, hitting a trio of threes in the last six minutes late in the second half as the Mountaineers held a 10-point advantage at the break, 44-34.
Kansas came out of halftime and constructed a 13-3 within the first two minutes to tie the game at 47.
“It was a lack of focus by us and a lack of urgency,” said Sherman. “That was one thing we was trying to tell ourselves, again. ‘Keep the lead up, don’t let it go back down. Don’t let them crawl back into the game slowly.’ We got better progressively during the game. So, it was great we figured it out really early after they made the run, instead of deeper into the second half.”
West Virginia regained the lead, working the ball down to Culver and drawing a foul. A pair of free throws was hit and on the ensuing possession, Taz worked his way down the right side for a layup to go up four. However, Kansas forced consecutive turnovers to tie it up at 51 at the 14:45 mark of the second half.
“We’ve been there before, and we’ve done it before, and the results haven’t been good. So, I think it was more challenging them and them responding to the challenge than it was anything else,” said Huggins.
However, McBride and Sherman continued to hit shots, teaming up for back-to-back three’s and Sherman again found room underneath for the bucket to extend West Virginia’s lead back to four. Sherman finished the game with 25 points and three assists.
"That's what Taz did in junior college. He was a really good 3-point shooter, but he also could play with his back to the basket, which he did a great deal of for us in the second half,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins. “He can drive it. It’s a little unconventional, which makes it even better. I want all of them to be able to use everything they can possibly use to score so we can win the game.”
The Mountaineers kept the Jayhawks at arm’s length until McBride took over the game, scoring seven of the next nine for West Virginia and increasing the lead to eight with just under nine minutes to play.
West Virginia guard Miles "Deuce" McBride (4) had a career-high 29 points in the win over No. 23 Kansas.
Dale Sparks - WVU Basketball
Kansas continued to answer, but forward Emmitt Matthews Jr. essentially put the final nail in the coffin drilling a three on the left side off a Sean McNeil offensive rebound as the Mountaineers held a 10-point lead with three and a half minutes to play.
“I thought Emmitt Matthews was terrific. He passed the ball, he guarded, he got key rebounds. He’s a 6-7 guy; we can switch off on guards. I thought he was really good. I thought he really, really, helped us,” said Huggins.
The Jayhawks started to put the Mountaineers at the foul line. McBride hit the first four to finish the day with a career-high 29 points as West Virginia closed the game out from the line with a 91-79 victory.
West Virginia is back in action on the road against Texas Tech Tuesday night at 9:00 EST on ESPN.
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