WVU knocks off Jayhawks 85-69
For the second time this season No. 18 West Virginia (16-4, 5-3) knocked off the No. 1 team in the nation beating Kansas 85-69 Tuesday night inside the Coliseum.
The Jayhawks had won 18 consecutive games, but West Virginia was able to rebound after back-to-back losses to score it’s second win of the season over a No. 1 team after beating Baylor earlier this month. Overall, the Mountaineers are 4-4 against the No. 1 team in the nation at home in program history.
It is the fourth consecutive time that West Virginia has beaten the Jayhawks in Morgantown.
After scoring only 13 points over the previous three-games, sophomore Esa Ahmad led the Mountaineers with a career-high 27-points, dominating the game for stretches. The other West Virginia players in double figures was senior forward Nathan Adrian with 11 points, senior guard Tarik Phillip with 10 points and junior guard Daxter Miles with 10 points.
The Mountaineers opened the game with an Ahmad free throw and add to that lead with a dunk from the sophomore to take an early 3-0 advantage just a little over a minute into the game. But Kansas would fire back with a three-ball from Graham only for Ahmad to convert an and-one to keep the advantage at 6-3 with under 17-minutes left in the first half.
The Jayhawks would start the game hot from the outside hitting three of their first five to take an 11-8 lead over the Mountaineers as West Virginia backed off of its full court pressure early. The Jayhawks would go on a scoring drought over the next four minutes allowing the Mountaineers to jump back in front 13-11 with 11:02 remaining in the first half.
While Mason would find it difficult in the early makings of the first half, the senior would reel off five straight and then a three-pointer by Devonte Graham put the Jayhawks back out front 21-17.
The Jayhawks would continue to shoot well from the outside late in the second half hitting 7-12 attempts from beyond the arc, but Ahmad helped keep the Mountaineers afloat with 12 points in the first half to keep the Kansas advantage at 28-26 at the 4:53 mark. West Virginia would then surge back in front at 32-31 at the 3:02 mark as Adrian would connect on a three-pointer as the two teams continued to battle back and forth throughout the first half.
West Virginia would take a 38-35 advantage into halftime with the two teams almost statistically even down the stat sheet. The Mountaineers would open the second half with four consecutive points to take its biggest lead of the game at 42-35 only 39 seconds into the frame forcing a timeout by Kansas.
The Mountaineers would push the lead to nine points but five straight by the Jayhawks in a hurry tightened the game back up as the score sat at 48-43 with over 15-minutes left in the game. West Virginia would push the lead back out to ten points at 55-45 but the Jayhawks would continue to cave away at the advantage by way of the three ball and rebounding on the offensive end.
Ahmad would continue his strong play into the second half with 21 points with exactly 11-minutes to play as West Virginia held a 58-51 lead over the visiting Jayhawks. But Kansas would quickly recapture the lead at 59-58 as the Jayhawks hit 12-25 from three-point range.
It would then be the Mountaineers turn to go on a run scoring six straight to take back a 64-59 lead with 7:35 remaining in the game. West Virginia would extend the advantage to 70-61 with 4:49 left as the Mountaineers continued to be effective getting the ball to the basket.
That lead would swell to 74-63 after a transition dunk by freshman Sagaba Konate forcing Kansas to use their last remaining timeout in the game. The Jayhawks would cut the deficit to eight points, but the Mountaineers would respond with six points of their own including a Miles three-pointer to push the lead to 80-66 with only 1:38 left in the game.
And from there the Mountaineers would close out the 85-69 win.
West Virginia will host Texas A&M in the Big 12-SEC Challenge at noon.