WVU upsets No. 11 Kansas State 89-81
In the home closer to the regular season, West Virginia defeated Kansas State to come away victorious on senior night, 89-81.
The Mountaineers came out slow, getting down 8-0 to start the game to force Bob Huggins to call an early timeout.
Keddy Johnson hit a three coming out of the timeout to get the Mountaineers on the board. West Virginia then scored on their next two possessions on buckets from Tre Mitchell and Erik Stevenson to put the score at 13-8.
Another bucket from Stevenson plus an assist to Emmitt Matthews had the Mountaineers down one despite their early eight point deficit.
Emmitt Matthews then got a steal and threw down a put-back dunk on the next possession to take the first lead of the game.
Two consecutive turnovers and a scoring drought had WVU down by eight again, within eleven to play in the first.
A minute later and they faced their first double digit deficit of the night.
With under six to play, Erik Stevenson hit a three and then took a charge on the defensive end to give his team possession. Keddy Johnson then scored and grabbed a steal, resulting in a layup by Matthews to tie the game at 31 apiece.
The half closed with the Mountaineers up 39-37. Matthews led the team with 14 points, shooting 7-9 from the field.
Erik Stevenson scored the first five points of the second for West Virginia, and then Emmitt Matthews threw down a jam to get WVU up by five.
With fifteen minutes remaining, Kansas State threw away their 15th turnover of the game, the Mountaineers leading by four.
Then, Matthews, Mitchell, and Stevenson all scored consecutive buckets to lead by six.
Upon getting the ball stolen, Keddy Johnson got back to block the transition layup, igniting the crowd, before finding Erik Stevenson for a huge three pointer. Kansas State then travelled, blowing the roof off of the Coliseum and forcing the Wildcats to call timeout with ten minutes remaining and WVU up 64-57.
A minute later, Stevenson hit a three from way beyond NBA range to get West Virginia their largest lead of the night at 10.
With seven and a half to go, Tre Mitchell was fouled to get his team in the bonus.
With five remaining, WVU led 78-64 after a pair of free throws by Emmitt Matthews.
The Mountaineers victory looked more sure by the moment, as with two and a half remaining they led by 15.
Stevenson, Matthews, and Johnson all finished with over 20 points, and West Virginia closed their season with a 89-81 win.
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