WVU loses last minute battle to Kansas 76-74
For the Mountaineers, Kansas was looking like their least likely chance to steal a win on the road, which was looking crucial, and despite a fight down to the final seconds, WVU lost 76-74.
Tre Mitchell scored just 15 seconds into the game to get the Mountaineers offense moving quickly.
Buckets from Kedrian Johnson and Emmitt Matthews had the game tied at 6-6 after three minutes of play.
Back to back to back turnovers between the two teams finished out play going into the first media timeout, Kansas up 7-6 with 15:54 remaining on the clock.
Gradey Dick missed a three pointer coming out of the timeout, resulting in a Tre Mitchell bucket for the Mountaineers at the other end, helped by a Jimmy Bell offensive board and assist by Erik Stevenson.
Buckets exchanged by Erik Stevenson and Kansas’ KJ Adams Jr. had West Virginia down by two with 14 minutes remaining in the first.
With 11:30 to go, West Virginia hadn’t made a field goal in nearly three minutes, but a Tre Mitchell three pointer, coming off of his own steal and assist by Stevenson, ended the drought seconds later.
The two teams remained tied after the first nine minutes at 14-14.
At the halfway mark of the first, a three from Kedrian Johnson made it a 6-0 run for WVU in the last minute, with Kansas not having scored in the last two.
One minute later, and Kansas still hadn’t scored. Plus, a layup by Emmitt Matthews extended it to an 8-0 run for the Mountaineers.
A three by Gradey Duck abruptly ended the drought and put the momentum in the other direction. With just under seven minutes left in the half, West Virginia hadn’t scored in two minutes and Kansas had a 7-0 run.
A pair of free throws by Keddy Johnson tied the game at 21. Then, another Tre Mitchell three had WVU ahead 24-21 with six to go.
Stevenson and KJ Adams exchanged buckets, but a three by Gradey Dick gave Kansas a two point lead.
Erik Stevenson answered with a three however, and the Mountaineers led by one with three to go in the first.
Buckets by Tre Mitchell and Emmitt Matthews extended the lead to 33-30 with a minute and a half remaining.
West Virginia closed out the half without scoring in the last two minutes. A three by Kansas with under 30 seconds remaining had West Virginia down 33-35 going into the second. Tre Mitchell led the Mountaineers with an efficient 12 points on 5-6 shooting from the field.
Erik Stevenson and Dajuan Harris exchanged the first buckets for their teams to start the second half. Kedrian Johnson then tied the game at 37-37 with a layup, but a three from Kansas put the Jayhawks back up.
An and-one by Emmitt Matthews tied the game at 40 through the first three minutes of the second.
Finished by a three from Gradey Dick, Kansas went on a 7-0 run over the course of one minute to have the Jayhawks up 50-44.
A minute and a half later and the Mountaineers were down by five after a bucket by Matthews. Next, a three pointer by Gradey Dick to bump the Kansas lead up to eight was a brutal sight for WVU fans.
Erik Stevenson quickly converted an and-one to bring it back to a a manageable deficit of five.
A huge three by Tre Mitchell put the Mountaineers within two points with the half just over halfway done.
A layup by Stevenson for his 13th point of the half had WVU within one going into the media timeout with eight to go, in what had become a very close game.
Despite leading by four with under seven minutes remaining, Kansas hadn’t scored a field goal in over two and a half minutes.
With five minutes remaining for West Virginia to put together an upset, they found themselves down by just four.
Just one minute later, Gradey Dick hit a big three pointer to strengthen the Jayhawk lead to six, but Erik Stevenson answered with an even bigger three to keep it a one possession game. Dick’s three was reversed to a two pointer and the Mountaineer’s were one point closer.
With two minutes left, a seven point deficit for WVU was looking intimidating. A huge offensive foul on Erik Stevenson gave Kansas back the ball with just over a minute to play and West Virginia down by five.
A great outlet by by Stevenson led to two free throws for Keddy Johnson to make it a one possession game. Emmitt Matthews then stole the ball back off the inbounds pass and dunked it to make it a one point game with 37 seconds left.
A foul by Tre Mitchell gave Kansas two free throws, one of which they made.
The Mountaineers had 24 seconds to tie the game with two points, but were unable to do so, resulting in a 76-74 loss.
They will next play at Iowa State on Monday, February 27th.
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