This wasn't what was expected, not this time. For all that West Virginia has done well in vanquishing Kansas inside the Coliseum, this one shaped up as a massive blowout. Instead, it turned into a monumental upset as the Mountaineers took out the nation's seventh-rated team in a 65-64 final. Run it back with us in The Full 40.
HOT AND NOT
HOT
Defense. Halfcourt or in the bit of pressure applied, West Virginia looked to be its old self here. The Mountaineers forced 18 turnovers (more on that below), limited Kansas' second-chance looks, clogged passing lanes, forced contested shots and didn't hack away to allow Kansas absurd trips to the line.
The Jayhawks shot 13 free throws on 14 WVU fouls. That's an excellent metric for West Virginia. What does it mean? First, that the team, as a whole, was using its feet to move instead of getting beat off the bounce and grabbing. It means it wasn't giving up a ton of offensive rebounds to KU (nine in all), which can lead to fouls on the putbacks. It wasn't allowing fatigue to manifest itself in recovery antics like body checks off the ball.
Instead it denied possessions initially as needed (Beetle Bolden was excellent at this late), played solid man, eliminated straight line drives and hit the glass. That the bigs also bodied up well and didn't often lean into the opposition (Derek Culver was whistled late for a foul for this) with arms draped over also cut down on the whistles while still changing shots. All in all this was exceptional defense against a program that lacks some of its usual punch (KU is just 114th nationally in points scored and 126th in three-point percentage.)
Forced turnovers. This goes along with the above, but it should be noted WVU forced Kansas into 18 turnovers. The Jayhawks were a bit better late, with just two inside the final 10 minutes and none over the last five. It wasn't so much that the steals led to points; indeed, the Mountaineers garnered just nine points off TOs. But it was denied shots and extra opportunities for a Kansas team that typically takes advantage of such.
As a subset off this, KU had just six second-chance points. Credit rebounding for that, along with blockouts and a sheer will to understand getting to the opposite side of where a shot originates and putting a body on a man. That effort went a long way. What also did was steals on picked passes, picked pockets and in other areas. Those denied shots (Kansas took 55 to WVU's 54 anyway) and allowed the Mountaineers t remain in the game early to build confidence and momentum.
