MORGANTOWN — In Bob Huggins’ view, he saw the job Kansas was doing defensively Saturday against West Virginia guards Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil, which had to open the door for somebody else on the Mountaineers’ roster.
“As the game went on, (Kansas) adjusted more and more as to our personnel and who wanted to do what,” Huggins said. “They scouted Sean and Taz and (Jalen Bridges) to get their tendencies.”
Malik Curry took full advantage of that opening, scoring 23 points with four rebounds and two blocked shots in the Mountaineers’ 85-59 loss against No. 9 Kansas at Allen Fieldhouse.
As part of his 23 points, Curry went a perfect 11 of 11 from the foul line, as the senior constantly found enough space to drive to the basket and create contact.
“Honestly, we were getting more calls than I expected,” Curry said. “Once I got the first call, I saw how they were going to call the game. Usually I like to get downhill and sometimes I get the call and sometimes I don’t. Today, I was drawing enough contact that they had to call the foul.”
The one time Curry didn’t get a call still turned into points.
After driving to the basket with 6:28 left in the first half, Curry put up a high-arching shot that banked off the backboard, but didn’t hit the rim.
WVU forward Jalen Bridges was there to catch the ball in mid-air and slam it home.
The dunk gave the Mountaineers (13-3, 2-2 Big 12) a 25-19 lead, but Kansas fought back to take a 33-31 lead at the half.
Bridges finished the game with his second career double-double with 12 points and 11 rebounds. Of his 11 rebounds, six came on the offensive end.
Taz struggles
WVU leading scorer Taz Sherman finished with just five points on 1 of 9 shooting after entering the game averaging 19.9 points.
“We’ve got to try and get him some good shots, some uncontested shots,” Curry said. “Usually Taz is going to make those shots. We’re not worried about that. He’s going to bounce back in the next game.”
Sherman is 1-4 in games against Kansas for his career. In the four losses, he’s scored a total of 11 points. In the one win, he finished with 25.
It also ended a streak of 15 consecutive games of scoring in double figures for Sherman. The last time it didn’t happen was in the first round of the 2021 NCAA tournament against Morehead State.
News and notes
** For a team that was last in the Big 12 in free-throw shooting, the Mountaineers are quickly improving that part of their game.
The Mountaineers were 21 of 28 from the line against Kansas, one game after finishing 21 of 22 against Oklahoma State.
** Gabe Osabuohien finished with 10 rebounds. In his last three games, the WVU senior forward is averaging 10.0 boards per game.
** Even with Osabuohien’s and Bridges’ rebounds, Kansas still came away with a 47-38 edge on the glass. The Jayhawks also blocked eight shots and had a dominating 54-20 advantage in points in the paint.
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