WVU set for round two against Kansas State

After avenging one loss earlier this past week to Oklahoma, No. 13/14 West Virginia (19-5, 7-4) will look to do it again at home against Kansas State (16-8, 5-6) this afternoon.

While the Mountaineers led by double-digit points in Manhattan in January, West Virginia couldn’t hold onto the lead by turning the ball over 23 times falling to the Wildcats 79-75.

In that game, Kansas State took advantage of the Mountaineers mistakes while shooting 50-percent from the field as the game lacked the trademark toughness that head coach Bob Huggins teams have come to be known by.

“Twenty of their 28 field goals were second shots, run outs and transition points,” Huggins said.

Defense has been one of the biggest issues with West Virginia’s struggles in Big 12 Conference play, but the Mountaineers were much more effective against the Sooners Wednesday night. In that contest, West Virginia held Oklahoma to only 33.3-percent shooting from the floor while frustrating point guard Jordan Woodward into only six points on 2-11 from the field.

“We tried to gap it a lot more. We were a little more conservative with the pressure. We were trying to make them catch it in front of us and make them work a little harder,” Huggins said.

That is in stark contrast to the matchup with Oklahoma State in the game before where the Mountaineers allowed the Cowboys to hit over 60-percent of their field goals. That started with stopping the ball and then not allowing run outs for easy baskets.

“We just didn’t keep anybody in front of us. When you’re consistently turning people loose at the rim they’re going to score,” Huggins said.

The Wildcats have lost four of their last five games since defeating West Virginia but are 4-4 on the road. Kansas State has a balanced scoring effort with four of the five starters in double figures and the fifth just short of cracking that mark.

Sophomore guard Kamau Stokes leads the Wildcats in scoring at 12.3 points per game but four other players average over 12 per contest.

In the series, West Virginia has won five of the last six meetings.

Because the Mountaineers didn’t arrive back in Morgantown until 5 a.m. Thursday the practice session consisted of more of a scout where the team watched film and familiarized themselves with the Wildcats. That activity turned up Friday afternoon during the practice session.

Junior guard Daxter Miles did not play against Oklahoma earlier in the week due to an ankle injury and when asked about his status for today Huggins was still unsure.

However, Miles was spotted going through some of the practice session that was open to the media Friday afternoon.

Coming off a 17-point performance, with 15 of those coming in the first half, freshman James “Beetle” Bolden earned time on the floor in large part because of how he practiced. That mindset could likely earn him more time in the future.

Another freshman in Sagaba Konate is coming off a game where he recorded five blocks and affected multiple other shots at the rim and at this stage Huggins believes that he has a chance to be special if he continues to develop.

“He’s got good hands, he catches, his shots improved – it’s just trying to get him to understand the game we want him to play,” Huggins said.

The game is set to tipoff at noon.