MORGANTOWN — Maybe nothing was more peculiar about West Virginia’s 76-62 loss against No. 3 Kansas on Saturday than the final few seconds of the first half.
With Kansas leading 40-35, Jalen Wilson missed a 3-pointer with three seconds remaining and with the shot clock nearing zero.
Kansas forward K.J. Adams came up with the offensive rebound, but as he did the shot clock reached zero and the WVU mascot fired her rifle to signify halftime had been reached.
Just one problem: There were still 1.8 seconds remaining on the game clock.
“Somebody asked me earlier if I had ever experienced that in your career?” Kansas head coach Bill Self said. “I’m like, ‘This is the only place where you can shoot a gun.’ ”
Adams continued to play, though, and was fouled by WVU forward James Okonkwo.
Adams made two free throws to give Kansas (14-1, 3-0 Big 12) a 42-35 halftime lead.
“It was a weird deal,” Self said. “I think it was Jalen who clipped off the three, which he didn’t have to do that, because we still had time. We ended up getting fouled out of the deal, so it worked out fine for us, but I didn’t know you could reload a musket that fast.”
Kansas guard Kevin McCullar admitted he stopped playing, because he thought the half was over, but Adams kept right on playing and finished with 14 points.
“That was big,” Self continued. “We had played too well in the first half to only be up five. If they get a stop right there, then they get the last shot and they had momentum. We were fortunate.”
In at point guard
WVU’s Joe Toussaint filled in for Kedrian Johnson at point guard after Johnson missed the game with a concussion.
Toussaint played 35 minutes, but struggled with his shot, going 2 for 10 from the floor. He finished with eight points and five assists.
Battle of the boards
Kansas came away with a 43-35 rebounding edge. It’s the most a team has out-rebounded the Mountaineers by this season.
“Our best rebounder today hadn’t played,” WVU head coach said of forward James Okonkwo, who led the Mountaineers with six boards off the bench. “I promise you, he’s going to play a whole lot more.”
Huggins said much of the problem was how WVU players defended Kansas’ pick-and-roll.
Huggins wanted his forwards to play under the screens to keep the Jayhawks’ screeners from rolling to the basket and getting in position to rebound or score.
“They didn’t pay a whole lot of attention, obviously,” Huggins said.
Kansas forward Jalen Wilson led the Jayhawks with 14 rebounds.
“We rebounded the heck out of the ball,” is how Self described it.
WVU did come away with a 26-20 edge in points in the paint, but was not able to overcome it’s poor shooting night of going 20 for 57 (35.1%) from the field.
News and notes
** The Mountaineers (10-5, 0-3) have now lost 11 consecutive games against AP Top 25 teams dating back to last season. WVU’s most recent win against a ranked opponent was against No. 15 UConn in last season’s Big East-Big 12 Battle.
** At 0-3, this is the worst start in Big 12 play for WVU since starting 0-5 during the 2018-19 season.
** Kansas has won four in a row against WVU, with an average margin of victory of 19.3 points per game.
** In its 11th season in the Big 12, WVU is 90-92 in conference play during the regular season.
** Shooting 35.1% from the floor against Kansas, WVU has now shot less than 42% from the field in four-straight games.
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