This one will not go down as one of the all-time great West Virginia-Kansas matchups.
Instead, West Virginia’s 60-53 loss to the third-ranked Jayhawks will go down as another ho-hum loss at Allen Fieldhouse that can be explained simply by poor team shooting and also — at times — some poor team defense that led to a number of lob dunks to Kansas center Udoka Azubuike that will surely end up on the Jayhawks’ highlight reel at the end of the season.
“I would say we shot ourselves in the foot,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said on his postgame radio interview.
Their own foot would have been OK if it had been stuck anywhere close to the rim on any of the Mountaineers’ 22 free-throw attempts.
It wasn’t and WVU’s poor 12 of 22 showing from the line just about explains the difference in this game.
“We go 12 of 22 from the free-throw line,” Huggins said. “That wasn’t because we had bad free-throw shooters there or what you wouldn’t think would be a bad free-throw shooter.”
Case in point: Chase Harler was a 74% shooter at the line last season, but when he missed two in a row with 1:36 left in the first half, WVU (11-2) missed a golden opportunity to take an eight-point halftime lead.
Oscar Tshiebwe is making nearly 65% from the line, but also missed two straight midway in the second half with the Mountaineers clinging to a 36-34 lead.
Kansas (11-2) comes right down and Azuibuke gets one of his lob dunks for an and-one three-point play to give the Jayhawks their first lead of the second half.
“We continue to miss free throws,” Huggins said. “We continue to miss two at a time, which just blows my mind, as many as we shoot.”
There was no last-minute full-court press drawn up by Kansas coach Bill Self in this one.
The referees could not exactly be pointed at as making a difference for the home team.
It was simply a matter of West Virginia going 7 of 25 shooting in the second half and being limited to 23 points and missing 10 free throws.
“Good teams will make shots,” Huggins said. “You’re going to miss some, I understand that, but we shouldn’t miss as many as we miss.”
Derek Culver was held to just 1 of 6 shooting in what was one of his poorer games of the season.
Emmitt Matthews Jr. was 1 for 8. Jermaine Haley was 1 for 5.
That’s three starters who were nowhere to be seen offensively — Culver did have 12 rebounds in a game where the Mountaineers held a commanding 44-30 edge on the glass — and it was still a three-point game with 1:30 remaining.
Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil, two players brought in from junior college with the intention of them developing into a couple of outside shooters and scorers, combined to go 2 for 9 and 0 for 3 from 3-point range.
And it was still a three-point game with 90 ticks left on the clock.
“They missed some good looks, but we missed some open shots, too,” Kansas coach Bill Self said. “That’s what happens in a game like this, where it’s really hard to score and it’s rugged and there is no rhythm or pace, shots come a little bit harder from the perimeter. Certainly both teams didn’t make them today.”
If there is any consolation to be taken away from this game, it’s that all Kansas did was hold serve with the win.
Anyone who believes that West Virginia hasn’t returned to becoming a Big 12 contender again after going 15-21 last season just isn’t paying that much attention.
The return game at the WVU Coliseum — on Feb. 12 — could very well have a much different ending.
That is, if the Mountaineers are making a few more free throws by then.
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