West Virginia knocks off No. 3 Kansas 91-85
West Virginia did just enough to pull off the upset over No. 3 Kansas 91-85 inside the Coliseum Saturday evening.
The win is the first for the Mountaineers against the Jayhawks in the last six tries and moves their overall record to 7-11 and 2-3 in the Big 12 on the season.
The Mountaineers were led in scoring by guard RaeQuan Battle with 23 points, forward Patrick Suemnick with 20 and point guard Kerr Kriisa with 15.
The Mountaineers kicked off the scoring with a pair of free throws by Battle and the action had a good pace to start with Kansas holding a 13-6 edge at the 15:57 mark. The Jayhawks first four baskets were three-pointers with Johnny Furphy hitting three.
However, the Mountaineers also started hot from deep hitting four of their first five to tie the game at 15-all with both teams shooting over 60-percent.
The Jayhawks lead would sit at 22-18 with 11:49 left from the field as the Mountaineers had all of their field goals from deep. And just a few trips down the floor later, West Virginia would surge ahead 25-24.
After Battle connected on another three-ball to put the Mountaineers ahead 33-31 it forced Kansas to use a timeout with 6:53 left in the first half.
The two teams continued to exchange blows as Battle's 17 points had the Mountaineers within striking distance at 47-43 with 1:52 left in the half. The two teams would take a 51-all tie into the half with Suemnick adding 11 for the Mountaineers.
West Virginia would hold a 55-53 lead at the 16:21 mark as the two teams did not open the second half as crisp as the first.
The two teams then continued to see-saw the lead between themselves over the next several minutes as West Virginia held a 62-61 edge with 13:25 left. As the clock ticked under 9 minutes, the Mountaineers led 72-68 after another Battle three created off an effort offensive rebound by Suemnick forcing the Jayhawks to use a timeout.
West Virginia pushed the lead out to 77-70 their largest of the game, but Kansas continued to battle and cut it to 78-75 with 5:05 left.
With just 3:24 left, a pair of turnovers led to back-to-back baskets by the Jayhawks and forced West Virginia to take a timeout leading just 80-79.
The Mountaineers held an 82-81 lead with 38 seconds left and had the basketball. After a free throw by Quinn Slazinski, the shooter was able to get his own miss and get back to the line to stretch the lead to 85-81 with 33 seconds left.
After a pair of Jayhawks free throws, Kriisa would connect on a pair to put the lead at 87-83 with 20 ticks left. But a Kevin McCullar long two would keep Kansas well within striking distance to make it 87-85 with 11 seconds left on the clock.
Farrakhan would connect on a pair to push the lead to 89-85 and a steal by Kriisa on the in-bounds would add two more to get to the final score 91-85.
While center Jesse Edwards was dressed and warmed up, he did not play in the game.
West Virginia will next travel to UCF for a 7 p.m. tip-off Tuesday night.
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