West Virginia Looking for its First win in Lawrence

Lawrence, KS - West Virginia faces the third-ranked Kansas Jayhawks (23-5, 11-4) in the first of a two-game road trip for the Mountaineers (16-12, 5-10) Saturday afternoon, with tipoff set for 4:00 p.m. EST and broadcasting on ESPN.

Kansas is riding a five-game winning streak, three of the wins coming on the road (Oklahoma, Oklahoma State and TCU) and has won seven of its last outings.

Jayhawks forward Jalen Wilson leads the Big 12 Conference in scoring at 19.9 points per game to go with a league-leading 8.5 rebounds per game, including registering a double double against the Mountaineers in the first meeting.

“Wilson is probably the best player in the league – will be the MVP of the league,” said West Virginia head coach Bob Huggins.

Guard Grady Dick is averaging 14.9 points per game and is shooting 40.7% from three-point range this season. The freshman hit four threes against WVU in game one to score a game-high 16 points as the Jayhawks captured a comfortable 76-62 win.

“They shot the heck out of it when they came here, they’ve shot it well all year,” said Huggins. They’re not as big and as imposing as what they have been in the past, but they really make shots.”

West Virginia is coming off a much-needed win over Oklahoma State on Monday after faltering at home two days prior to Texas Tech.

The Mountaineers’ leading scorer Erik Stevenson (14.6) led all scorers with 23 points in the win over Oklahoma State on Monday while forward Tre Mitchell hit a career-high 22 points following a spell of five games missing double figures.

Despite facing the number three team in the country, Huggins said the team has not had their typical practices.

“We’re like most people, we’re a little banged up,” he said. “Trying to get guys healed up I think more than rested up, and so we really haven’t gone very long [in practice] nor very hard. We’ve tried to make sure that one, we’re fresh but I think more importantly than that we have an opportunity to heal up some.”

West Virginia will be without forward Mohamed Wague due to a foot injury.

Kansas holds a 19-6 all-time series lead.

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