West Virginia basketball looks to get back on track against Kansas at home

The Mountaineers, coming off a 10-point road loss to Oklahoma on Saturday, will take on No. 3 Kansas Wednesday followed by the No. 1 team in the country in Baylor Saturday in Waco.

Opposing environments have not been friendly to West Virginia this season with the team accumulating just a 1-4 road record in the Big 12 this season, losing three straight since beating Oklahoma State by 14 points in Stillwater on Jan. 6.

A road loss to Kansas is part of that 1-4 record, but on Wednesday, the Mountaineers will host the Jayhawks this time around for a 7 p.m. ET tipoff inside the Coliseum, a place West Virginia is unbeaten at this season with a perfect 12-0 record. The game will be televised on Big 12 Now on ESPN+.

West Virginia was off Sunday and resumed practice Monday in preparation for a Kansas team that has won eight consecutive games since falling to Baylor at home on Jan. 11, 67-55, the Bears’ first-ever win inside Allen Fieldhouse.

“They were good (Monday)--trying to figure out how to make a shot,” Huggins said regarding the team during practice.

Huggins voiced his displeasure in the team’s attitude which he said is completely different from what it was earlier in the season. He went on to explain by saying most of the players used to be on the court an hour before practice getting shots up, but that amount had gone down to one or two players.

“Before when I talked, I had every eye on me,” Huggins said following the loss to Oklahoma. “Now, I don’t.”

“Maybe it’s a lot of things--people patting you on the behind too much, listening to people you shouldn’t listen to,” Huggins said on Tuesday. “Probably not as into it as what you were when you were really excited and starting. I think it’s a combination of a lot of things.”

Prior to the team’s practice on Tuesday, Huggins wasn’t sure if his message was heard by the team.

“(I) can’t read minds,” Huggins said. “I don’t know what they think. You get (to) a point in time where you realize that you have no idea what they’re thinking.”

While Monday’s practice could be a step in the right direction in terms of the team’s attitude, one area that the team must improve on is making shots.

Kansas is allowing just 60.3 points per game which ranks eighth in the country. West Virginia on the other hand is just 213th in the country in field goal percentage (43.2%) and 309th in three-point field goal percentage (30.3%). The team’s performance against Sooners embodied this with the Mountaineers missing going just 11-of-31 on layups and making just 24-of-76 field goals.

The last time these two teams met on Jan. 4, the Jayhawks held West Virginia to a season-low 53 points and the Mountaineers shot just 28% during the second half.

“We rush things inside for no reason. I think that was the biggest problem with not making shots on the interior,” Huggins said. “I have no idea why we don’t make shots on the perimeter.”

West Virginia could be getting sophomore guard Sean McNeil back, but if so, it’ll most likely be in a limited capacity. He‘s missed the past two games with an illness.

“He went a little bit (Monday),” Huggins said. “He’s weak. He didn’t eat much for three days and layed around. He may be able to go a little bit. I don’t know.”

It’s also worth mentioning that with a win against Kansas on Wednesday, Huggins will earn his 879th career win, which would tie him with Dean Smith for sixth all-time in NCAA Division I men’s basketball.

But Huggins has and always will be focused on the bigger picture and this week, it’s all about finding a way to get a win at home against the Jayhawks and then help the team get out of its road slump against Baylor on Saturday.

Based on West Virginia’s home record this season and history playing Kansas in Morgantown alone, Wednesday’s game presents a favorable matchup for the Mountaineers with the program holding a 5-2 all-time record against the Jayhawks at home.

But that won’t come to fruition unless West Virginia brings a different mindset and attitude, according to Huggins.

“We’re good enough to beat anybody in the country if we have the right frame of mind,” Huggins said. “Somehow, we've got to have the right frame of mind.”

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