MORGANTOWN — Behind a flurry of lay-ups and dunks Saturday night, No. 6 Kansas put a huge dagger into any hope that West Virginia had of salvaging a late-season run towards the postseason.
The Jayhawks got 23 points from star guard Ochai Agbaji and won at the WVU Coliseum for the first time since 2020 with a 71-58 victory.
Kansas forward David McCormack added 19 points and 11 rebounds, as the Jayhawks led for all but 63 seconds of the game.
“It’s hard to win when you don’t make lay-ups,” WVU head coach Bob Huggins said. “We missed one-footer after one-footer after one-footer and didn’t make any of them. We missed three front ends (of one-and-one free throws) and you just see guys’ heads go down.”
The Mountaineers (14-12, 3-10 Big 12) are now assured of their third losing season in Big 12 play in what is their 10th year in the conference, but that may just be the least of their problems.
WVU has now lost 10 of its last 11 games and its two losses to Kansas (22-4, 11-2) this season have come by a combined 39 points.
“We were careless,” Huggins said. “The reality is we’re not good enough to make those kinds of mistakes. We haven’t made lay-ups all year.”
The Jayhawks (22-4, 11-2) dominated this game close to the rim for the entirety.
Kansas’ 33-27 halftime lead seemed close, but was built by dominating around the rim.
That’s been the Mountaineers’ downfall for most of the season and it happened again Saturday.
The Jayhawks had 20 of their 33 points scored in the paint and doubled up WVU on the glass 28-14. By the end, the Jayhawks finished with 40 points around the basket and with a 49-32 rebounding advantage.
Meanwhile, WVU struggled to find any rhythm early on. Only Taz Sherman and Sean McNeil had scored for the Mountaineers until the game was nearly 12 minutes old and WVU connected on just 11 of its first 37 shots (29.7%).
“People can say what they want about the offense, but I think we’re taking steps in the right direction,” McNeil said. “We’ve got five games left to go and the goal is to get all five.”
That all began to change in the early moments of the second half. West Virginia hit four of its first six 3-pointers. McNeil hit two of them out of the gate and Sherman and Bridges also connected from deep and, all of a sudden, Kansas coach Bill Self was forced to call a timeout after WVU had cut the lead to 42-40.
That was all the hope the Mountaineers could muster, though.
Kansas went inside to McCormack for two buckets and Agbaji added a coast-to-coast dunk after Sherman’s pass was intercepted that built the lead back up to 56-48 with 7:29 remaining.
“McCormack is a pro,” Huggins said. “They’ve got great size. Their two guards are as big as our forwards.”
WVU’s late-game opportunities came up short. The Mountaineers missed the front end of two one-and-one free-throw attempts, only to have Jalen Bridges and Gabe Osabuohien pick up offensive rebounds.
With two more looks at the basket, WVU came away scoreless and Osabuohien picked up his fourth foul while trying to defend McCormack at the other end.
McNeil finished with 18 points and four 3-pointers, as WVU finished just 27.9% (19 of 68) from the floor, the fourth game this season the Mountaineers shot worse than 32% from the floor.
Sherman added 16 points and Bridges had nine points and four rebounds.
WVU has little time to rest, with three games next week, beginning with Monday night on the road against TCU.
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