West Virginia simply didn’t play well enough to win on the road at Kansas State.
The Mountaineers were behind 42-18 at halftime and never were able to recover as they dropped their second consecutive game after losing to Arizona State earlier in the week.
That first half started with a 17-0 run and the Wildcats never looked back.
“The first five minutes it just kind of snowballed from there,” head coach Darian DeVries said. “The second half was more like us. We competed, didn’t quit but you can’t put yourself in that type of hole on the road.”
West Virginia has struggled to find offense as teams have given Javon Small plenty of attention and made it difficult for him to get free, while others around him have struggled to score. Over the past two games, the Mountaineers have shot just 8-50 from three.
On the defensive end, things have been a challenge as well as that end of the floor has carried the Mountaineers at times this season but both Arizona State and Kansas State both managed to create problems and score the ball at a high clip.
The week has dropped West Virginia around a dozen spots in the NET Rankings and now the basketball program enters a difficult stretch with a dozen games remaining. That starts with a home contest against Houston before road trips to Cincinnati and TCU.
After that West Virginia will play host to Utah and BYU before a road game at Baylor. That is a challenge to navigate but now at 13-6 the Mountaineers will need to find a way to turn things around after a surprising week on the floor.
But that’s life in the Big 12 where it’s tough to string together wins but this team doesn’t have a choice otherwise if they want to realize their promise.
“It’s a tough league. Good coaches, good players, good crowds,” DeVries said.
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