It was more of the same for West Virginia on Saturday against Kansas State.
After an abysmal showing offensively against Arizona State, the Mountaineers remained in that funk on the road against Kansas State. The Wildcats raced out to a 19-2 lead, as WVU’s offense once again struggled in a 73-60 loss from Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan, Kansas.
The Mountaineers hoped they could hit the reset button after their loss on Tuesday, which saw them shoot 31 percent from the field and go 4-for-29 from three. Unfortunately for West Virginia (13-6, 4-4 Big 12), they shot 24 percent from the field in the first half, while they went 1-for-10 from three. The Wildcats on the other hand could not miss early, blowing out the Mountaineers.
West Virginia made their first shot of the game with 18:52 to play, as Eduardo Andre made a layup. The next points scored for the Mountaineers came on a free throw from Javon Small with 12:06 to play as his two makes made it 19-4 Kansas State (8-11, 2-6 Big 12). Small then slammed home a dunk at the 11:09 mark of the first half, ending a 7:43 run without a made field goal for the Mountaineers.
On the other side of things, Kansas State made seven of their first 11 shots from the field. Dug McDaniel led the way, scoring 11 points in the first half, including the 3-pointer from him which made it 19-2 Kansas State.
K-State went into the locker room with a 42-18 lead as the 42 points WVU allowed were the second-most scored in a half against the Mountaineers this season (44 by Pitt).
While it was arguably harder to be worse offensively than they were in the first half, West Virginia showed major life to start the second half.
The Mountaineers opened the half on an 11-2 run, to force a Kansas State timeout with 16:00 to play and the Wildcats in front 44-29. The Mountaineers made five shots in the first four minutes of the half, after making only seven the entire first half.
Out of the timeout, Kansas State would go inside to Coleman Hawkins for an easy bucket to slow the run before it was an empty possession by WVU, ultimately leading to a 3-pointer from Max Jones, putting Kansas State back in front by 20.
West Virginia cut Kansas State's lead to 14 with 11:05 to play, but there would then be only one point scored between both teams until the 7:18 mark when David N'Guessan converted an and-one opportunity, putting K-State in front 58-40, where they would never look back.
West Virginia's offense certainly had more life to it in the second half than it did in the first. WVU shot 46 percent from the field in the second half, finishing the game shooting 37 percent from the floor. The Mountaineers still struggled from three, going 4-for-21 from beyond the arc.
Small led WVU in scoring with 22 points, which was the 9th time this season he's scored at least 20 points in a game.
With the win Kansas State broke their six-game losing streak while the Mountaineers lost back-to-back games for the first time this season.
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